Theater news this morning out of San Francisco.
Magic Theatre (Marina) has announced artistic director Loretta Greco will depart the organization at the end of the 2019-2020 season.
“It has been a spectacular honor to lead the storied Magic Theatre,” said Greco.
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“I am proud of the extraordinary array of groundbreaking writers Magic has launched and supported over time, who have bravely led our cultural conversation forward—and the way those voices and the work we have premiered have elevated the field as a whole.”
Per the press release, Greco assumed the artistic director position in 2008:
At Magic, she produced Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge and the World Premiere of Hir, and associate produced the West Coast Premiere of A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.
Through a generous commission from the Hewlett Foundation, Magic will also produce Mac’s upcoming play, Calamity Joy, in 2021, which Greco will direct.
She has produced three plays from Mfoniso Udofia’s Nigerian Ufot Cycle: Sojourners, and the World Premieres of runboyrun and In Old Age, in addition to developing and premiering three plays from Luis Alfaro: This Golden State: Delano, Bruja, and Oedipus el Rey. Additional productions during her tenure have included the premieres of Victor Lodato and Polly Pen’s Arlington, Lloyd Suh’s American Hwangap, Octavio Solis’ Se Llama Cristina, and notable productions of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Brother’s Size, Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius, Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus, Liz Duffy Adam’s Or, and Linda McLean’s Any Given Day.
Additionally, Greco collaborated closely with the late Sam Shepard, over a five-year celebration of his seminal work as the theatre approached its 50th season.
Magic Theatre’s 2019-2020 season commences with the currently-playing The Chinese Lady (Now – November 2, 2019), followed by NASSIM (November 12 – November 17, 2019), the 2019 Martha Heasley Cox Virgin Play Festival (December 2019), Don’t Eat The Mangos by Ricardo Pérez Gonzalez (February 26 – March 22, 2020), and Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone (April 14 – May 10, 2020).
Magic remains one of Stark Insider favorite Bay Area theater houses (alongside so many outstanding others such as SF Playhouse, ACT, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and San Jose Stage Company to name but a few). A lot of that has do with Greco’s leadership and creativity. We look forward to what comes next.
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Organizers say a search is being formed to find a new artistic director.
See you at the show!
