Acting artistic director Gideon Lester is out of the running.
(Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff/file 2005)
Harvard University's search committee to name the next artistic director of the American Repertory Theatre has told two well-known candidates that they won't get the job: ART acting artistic director Gideon Lester and New York-based director Anne Bogart.
Lester, who has served in his current role since the departure of ART artistic director Robert Woodruff at the end of last season, gave an impassioned speech to ART staff on Wednesday, saying that he had been told by Harvard provost Steve Hyman that the search committee would not include him on its short list for the job.
"The committee, he said, is looking for a leader with greater experience beyond the ART, someone who can consider our institution with fresher eyes," said Lester in his speech. Lester was the ART's associate artistic director under Woodruff from 2002 to 2006.
Bogart, the Obie Award-winning artistic director of SITI Company, was originally on the ART search committee, but she said she resigned from the committee several weeks ago to become a candidate for the job. Bogart, whose past ART productions have included "bobrauschenbergamerica" and "La Dispute," said yesterday that she was a candidate for "about 30 seconds." She said she submitted a proposal outlining her plans for the theater and then was told she was no longer in the running.
Bogart declined to discuss her ideas for the ART or name other potential candidates.
"I could tell you personally I was excited by the proposal, and it would have been a great ride," she said.
A third potential candidate, Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning writer/director James Lapine, said yesterday that he had been approached for the position but turned the ART down.
"I love Boston, but at the end of the day, as attractive as it is, I just wasn't ready to pull up roots," said Lapine, who lives in New York.
Reached yesterday, search committee members would not discuss who is being considered for the ART position, which opened up when Harvard decided not to bring back Woodruff. The former artistic director's five-year tenure was marked by critical successes but increasing pressure to fill more seats and cut costs.
Search committee member Rebecca Milikowsky praised Lester in a phone interview yesterday.
"Gideon is one of the most honorable, brilliant people in the theater world," she said, adding that he has "shown leadership skills and will have an amazing future in the theater wherever he is."
Lester declined to discuss the ART search when reached for comment yesterday. In his speech, he said that he intends to stay at the ART until there's a new artistic director, retains responsibility for programming the 2008-09 season, and would discuss future plans with the new artistic director. He also invoked the accomplishments of Woodruff and ART founding director Robert Brustein and praised a new wave of directors, including MIT's Jay Scheib and New York-based directors Paul Bargetto and Daniel Fish.
"A director told me recently that our colleagues across the country are holding their breath to see what becomes of us; they perceive that the ART is standing at a crossroads," he said in his speech. "They know that we will either proceed as a fully realized, properly funded, first-rate cultural center or we will descend into mediocrity, betraying our mission, our audience, and ourselves. I think you can guess which path I hope is chosen for us. But that choice lies partially in our hands too, all of us in this room."
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. For more on the arts, visit boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist.
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