La Jolla Playhouse names Tony-nominated director Jessica Stone as next artistic director

Jessica Stone, a Tony-nominated manager (“Kimberly Akimbo,” “Water for Elephants”) has been named the caller creator manager of La Jolla Playhouse, succeeding Christopher Ashley astatine the helm of 1 of the nation’s preeminent determination theaters. The Board of Trustees of La Jolla Playhouse made the announcement connected Tuesday.

Her assignment ends the monopoly of antheral creator directors astatine adjacent institutions successful Southern California. In a portion that boasts immoderate of the country’s astir important nonprofit theaters (the Old Globe, South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group, Pasadena Playhouse and the Geffen Playhouse), La Jolla Playhouse volition beryllium the lone 1 of this elite radical with a pistillate calling the creator shots.

Stone had a flourishing vocation arsenic an actor, racking up galore Broadway credits earlier she transitioned to directing. Her past outing connected a Broadway signifier arsenic a performer came successful Kathleen Marshall’s 2011 Tony winning revival of “Anything Goes,” starring Sutton Foster.

The adjacent clip Stone worked connected Broadway was successful 2022 arsenic the manager of the Tony-winning philharmonic “Kimberly Akimbo.” The amusement is based connected David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2000 offbeat play astir a teen with a information that causes accelerated aging. While inactive successful precocious school, she transforms physically into an aged woman.

Not the worldly of mean musicals, but Lindsay-Abaire, who wrote the publication and lyrics, and Jeanine Tesori, who wrote the score, nailed the eccentric wit on with the lyrical poignancy. And Stone seamlessly balanced these elements successful a accumulation that was arsenic tonally assured arsenic a John Ashbery poem.

“Kimberly Akimbo” has nary transportation to La Jolla Playhouse. It began astatine New York’s Atlantic Theater Company earlier moving to Broadway. But this quirky philharmonic with a melodramatic psyche mightiness service arsenic the platonic perfect of a La Jolla Playhouse show.

The authoritative ngo of the theatre is to archer “stories that animate empathy and make dialog toward a much conscionable future” by cultivating “a local, nationalist and planetary pursuing with an insatiable appetite for audacious work.” In a video telephone interrogation that included managing manager Debby Buchholz, Stone seized connected the connection “audacious” arsenic a cardinal crushed for her involvement successful the job.

Jessica Stone, left, La Jolla Playhouse’s recently named creator director, stands with Debby Buchholz, the theater’s managing director.

(Erica Joan Productions)

Stone admitted that she was initially resistant. “It wasn’t needfully thing that I had connected a bucket list,” she said. “I’m a carnal of habit. And a parent and a girl and a wife. I had worked each implicit the state arsenic a director, but I had been moving successful New York for rather a fewer years, and that was my creator home.”

She credits her friend, “Jersey Boys” publication writer Rick Elice, who besides wrote the publication for the philharmonic “Water for Elephants,” with opening her eyes. He asked her if she ever had an creator home. Stone thought backmost to her formative play astatine Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Elice’s words astir not dismissing specified a acquisition stayed with her.

But what truly turned things around, she said, was “the accidental to beryllium a portion of making an creator location for others.” In doing her owed diligence, she discovered that audacious creativity truly does prevarication astatine the halfway of La Jolla Playhouse’s committedness to caller work. And she felt assured it was a lucifer of sensibilities.

In describing her aesthetic, Stone said, “I emotion a bold prime and a large swing, and I privation to propulsion the boundaries.” She compared her enactment successful “Kimberly Akimbo,” an intimate standard musical, and “Water for Elephants,” a grander offering with epic themes and circus-style theatrics, and concluded: “I similar to zoom successful and I similar to zoom out.”

Buchholz shared that successful the people of the hunt process, a fig of trustees saw “Kimberly Akimbo” erstwhile it was connected circuit successful Southern California. “And the full speech afterwards was wherefore didn’t that commencement with us?” she said.

Carolee Carmello, left, and Miguel Gil prima successful the nationalist circuit of “Kimberly Akimbo.”

(Joan Marcus)

Mindful of her Playhouse predecessors, Stone said she wants to proceed to physique connected their legacy. She’s worked arsenic an histrion for Des McAnuff, whose tenure arsenic creator manager transformed the Playhouse into a Tony-winning determination theatre powerhouse. And she’s collaborated with Ashley, some arsenic a performer and arsenic an subordinate director. (“I deliberation I was a unspeakable subordinate director,” she said with self-deprecating humor, “but I person a agelong past with Chris.”)

Stone is not the archetypal pistillate creator manager successful La Jolla Playhouse’s history. Anne Hamburger, who succeeded Michael Greif successful the relation successful 1999, served small much than a twelvemonth earlier leaving to go an enforcement vice president of originative amusement astatine the Walt Disney Co. But Stone’s assignment is nevertheless noteworthy for the region. Women creator directors are not uncommon elsewhere. The 2 starring determination theaters successful the Bay Area, American Conservatory Theater and Berkeley Rep, are led by women. But Southern California, which has made headway successful different areas of enactment diversity, has lagged behind.

When asked to remark connected the significance, Stone said that she hopes it was her bold aesthetic that was the determining origin successful her assignment and not her gender. Buchholz confirmed that so was the case: “I tin archer you perfectly that it was the bold choices and large swings that made Jessica perfectly the hands-down prime of our hunt committee.”

Buchholz added that she appreciated that the committee had her connected the hunt committee, “because this is simply a small spot of a marriage, a co-leadership. I bash not enactment for Jessica and Jessica does not enactment for me. Both of america study straight to the board.”

La Jolla Playhouse creator manager Christopher Ashley holds his Tony Award for directing “Come From Away.”

(Lauren Radack)

Stone added: “I emotion to person a spouse successful crime. Our accomplishment sets complement each other’s good and I judge this scaffolding is indispensable for immoderate institution. I consciousness truly fortunate to person Debby’s expertise to thin connected arsenic good arsenic her generosity with respect to my ain spreading of wings.”

Last year, the Playhouse appointed Eric Keen-Louie arsenic creator producing director. Buchholz explained that the presumption came astir successful designation that, fixed the magnitude of clip Ashley was distant with projects that were developed astatine La Jolla Playhouse, determination was a request for “someone successful spot who stays and doesn’t nonstop elsewhere.”

“Our anticipation is that Jessica volition make enactment present and that whether it’s a co-production oregon thing moving to Broadway oregon commercially that she’ll request to proceed to enactment connected it,” Buchholz said. “And present we person a precise beardown operation successful spot that supports the continuing enactment astatine the Playhouse.”

“I’ve known Eric for a agelong time,” Stone said, “and the happening that I’m excited astir is helium and I tally successful immoderate of the aforesaid circles, but we besides person antithetic relationships with antithetic artists. I’m truly excited to conscionable his folks and present him to mine. He has impeccable taste, and it’s truly amusive already to work scripts and perceive to scores unneurotic and spitball with each other. I deliberation it’s going to beryllium a truly affluent partnership.”

Who volition beryllium determining the programming? Stone confirmed that the creator subordinate volition halt with her.

Regional theaters person been warring for their endurance since the COVID-19 pandemic. Budgets person been slashed, layoffs person been rampant, accumulation costs person soared and morale has plummeted arsenic audiences person been recalibrating their amusement options.

La Jolla Playhouse isn’t impervious to these headwinds, but Buchholz said that the theatre is successful a comparatively steadfast position. Both Stone and Buchholz acknowledged the benefits of a strong, supportive board, and that enactment is indicative that thing has been working.

“We person a beauteous wide ngo and we person an assemblage that understands what that ngo is and we’ve mostly stuck to it,” Buchholz said. “And truthful our audiences came backmost beauteous overmuch arsenic soon arsenic they could travel back. As a substance of fact, our subscription and azygous summons numbers person grown.”

Has the changing governmental scenery had immoderate interaction connected programming oregon connected equity, diverseness and inclusion initiatives? The speech has changed and possibly grown much intense, Buchholz acknowledged, but the values and priorities of the Playhouse stay the same.

“Right present authorities is beforehand of consciousness for everyone, but we’ve ever been a institution that has prided itself connected radical seeing themselves connected signifier and represented,” she said. “But we’ve ne'er programmed connected the nose. And erstwhile oregon doubly we’ve accidentally recovered that our programming was connected the nose, and that’s erstwhile our audiences didn’t come. They travel for divers programming, but divers with a smaller ‘d’ alternatively than a large ‘D.’”

“It seems to maine that the astir breathtaking theatre comes from a multitude of voices but involves cosmopolitan themes,” Stone added. “To me, that is ever the organizing principle.”

La Jolla Playhouse has a estimation for being a luxurious Broadway launching pad. The complex, which includes 3 superior venues (each nether 500 seats) and a achromatic container that’s utilized chiefly for readings and workshops, occupies a serene country of UC San Diego’s scenic campus. The Playhouse has not lone cachet but geography. (Who wouldn’t privation to walk a wintertime processing a caller amusement successful this sun-drenched, seaside San Diego community?)

During Ashley’s tenure, “Memphis” and “The Outsiders” won Tony Awards for champion philharmonic and “Come From Away” earned Ashley a directing Tony. But determination has besides been a bully woody of commercialized dross. There are conspicuous downsides for a nonprofit institution getting accustomed to enhancement wealth from extracurricular producers.

“The risks are that we commencement to consciousness similar a rental location and don’t person our fingerprints connected thing that we basal by that goes to New York,” Stone said. “The extremity is for that not to beryllium the case. There are benefits to the enhancement that comes with these shows that determination to New York, but the extremity has to archetypal beryllium what’s close for San Diego.”

The producing situation has grown much challenging for superior drama. It’s easier to merchantability tickets to a caller philharmonic than a caller play. The aforesaid holds existent for revivals. But Stone, who pointed to Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain” arsenic a modern play that tin galvanize an audience, said that she’s funny successful “deepening the resources for being an incubator for caller voices.

“I’m besides funny successful expanding possibilities for aboriginal signifier playwrights to make their caller work,” she added, successful a refreshing motion to an often overlooked country of inclusiveness.

Stone is nary alien to San Diego, having directed comedies by Shakespeare, Shaw, Neil Simon and Christopher Durang (among others) astatine the Old Globe. In a substance exchange, Old Globe creator manager Barry Edelstein described Stone arsenic “witty, crisp and affluent successful imagination.” He called her “a large hire, fantastic for the La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego for sure, but besides for the American theatre astatine large.”

Unstinting successful his praise, Edelstein wrote, “I’ve had the privilege of producing her astatine The Old Globe, and she’s go a friend. I cognize her to beryllium lukewarm and open, passionate, fiercely committed to artists, and besides — and this truly matters — genuinely funny. Chris Ashley did large enactment astatine the Playhouse and leaves immense shoes to fill, but Jess is poised (together with Debby, who is besides brilliant) to pb the spot connected a immense leap forward.”

Ashley, who has been named creator manager of Roundabout Theatre Company, leaves his station astatine the extremity of the year. Stone, who is joined to Tony-nominated histrion Christopher Fitzgerald and has 2 children, volition beryllium dividing her clip betwixt New York and La Jolla erstwhile she takes the reins successful aboriginal 2026.