Oskar Eustis Named New Artistic Director of Public Theater

It was announced today that Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, has been named to replace George C. Wolfe as artistic director of The Public Theater. Eustis will start the transition to his new position in January and will begin working full-time at The Public in the spring.

In addition to his position at Trinity Rep, which he has held for 10 years, Eustis served as dramaturg and resident director of the Eureke Theatre Company in San Francisco, where he commissioned Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. He later directed the world premiere production of that play at Los Angeles’s Mark Taper Forum, where he served as associate artistic director beginning in 1989. Eustis commissioned Emily Mann’s Execution of Justice, which he directed at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has also directed the world premieres of The Long Christmas Ride Home and Ruby Sunrise, and he was an associate professor of theater at UCLA’s School of Film, Television and Theatre.

Eustis will also become a full-time arts professor on the faculty of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts as part of a new operating partnership between NYU and The Public. He will work to advise, mentor, and present emerging playwrights, in addition to teaching collaborative courses for advanced theater artists. Kenneth Lerer, chairman of the board of The Public Theater stated that Eustis’s “passion for the theater is profound and his commitment to new voices and the classics unmatched. He brings to The Public an outstanding track record of achievement, both artistically and financially, and will be a perfect partner with Mara Manus, the theater’s executive director.”

In accepting his new position, Eustis stated, “I am honored and humbled to follow Joseph Papp, JoAnne Akalaitis, and George C. Wolfe in leading this extraordinary institution, and I am looking forward to working with Mara Manus to continue the core values that Joe and George laid down. The Public is essential because it embodies the best in the American democratic cultural tradition. It’s commitment to placing boundary-breaking new work next to the work of Shakespeare and letting them talk to each other is tremendously important. The Public’s determination to create a radically inclusive theatrical center, for both artists and audiences, has changed the face of the American theater. I want to thank the board for asking me to take on this task; it’s the greatest challenge and opportunity of my life.”