In regional theater it’s almost the equivalent of trying to replace John Wooden as UCLA basketball coach: Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory is searching for an artistic director to succeed its visionary (and still very active) founders David Emmes and Martin Benson, who over 46 years have built an institution of national renown. “We are spending a whole lot of time on it,” says SCR board Prez Tom Phelps, who is overseeing the leadership transition with fellow lawyer and search committee Chairman Wylie Aitken. “South Coast Repertory is universally recognized as among America’s leading professional theatres and is a preeminent company in developing new plays that serve to build the American repertoire,” says Tom Hall, Del Mar-based managing partner of arts consultant Albert Hall & Associates. Phelps says Hall’s firm rounded up about 70 candidates from across the country. The list recently was culled to about a dozen who will be interviewed shortly. The board’s goal is to make a hire by the end of the year, although Phelps says the timeline could be extended. The new artistic director will serve as co-CEO with managing director Paula Tomei, Emmes’ wife who runs the business side. Benson and Emmes will not retire: Under the new titles of founding directors they will serve as advisers to their successor, help to plan the 2011-12 season and reserve the right to each direct a production annually. The arrangement should lure prospects eager to work with the two masters, but will it attract talent seeking a freer rein? Phelps says, “There’s a marvelous pool of people who say they’d like to play the game, or at least look into it further” …
Benson hasn’t lost a step, judging from the rave reviews for his directorial reprise of George Bernard Shaw’s “Misalliance,” on SCR’s main stage through Oct. 10 (see Review, this issue) …
Bank surveillance photos that first ran in the OCBJ produced tips that led Secret Service agents to arrest a convicted Fountain Valley bank robber for allegedly impersonating Donald Bren. Still unrevealed is how the suspect got hold of Bren’s $1.4 million tax refund check …
Gov. Arnold has appointed management consultant Yuri Vanetik of Lemon Heights to the California State Lottery Commis-sion …
Philanthropist Dick Marconi re-ceives the Shining Star award at the “Evening Under the Stars” benefit gala Sunday at Antonello Ristorante in South Coast Plaza Village. More info at www.canyonacres.org …
Retired Irvine Company exec Dick Sim remembers financier Richard Rodnick, who died last month at age 81, as “a very honorable, straightforward guy” whose Geneva Corp. became a key tenant of Irvine’s then-new Jamboree Center in the mid-1980s. When their negotiators reached a stalemate over a multistory lease, Sim met with Rodnick over coffee. Sim suggested they each write down what they thought was the appropriate monthly square-foot rent and compare figures. Sim wrote $2.75, Rodnick $2.25. Rodnick proposed splitting the difference. They shook on $2.50 and the deal was done.
