Ashland's Artistic Director To Resign -- Shakespeare Festival Gets Surprising News

ASHLAND, Ore. - On the opening weekend of the popular Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 60th anniversary summer season, artistic director Henry Woronicz dropped a bombshell on the organization he has run since 1991.

Woronicz announced Friday to OSF's stunned board of directors that he was resigning as artistic director.

OSF, one of the largest and most successful theater operations in the United States, sells more than 350,000 tickets

per year. Its three theaters are a magnet for tourists from throughout the West. Woronicz will finish the 1995 OSF season, which runs through Oct. 31. He also has planned the shows for the 1996 season.

OSF board president and Ashland restaurateur Michael Donovan announced the resignation at a press conference yesterday. Donovan said Woronicz resigned for "deeply personal reasons" and would not comment further.

Woronicz also declined to comment or appear at the press conference. He did express, in his letter of resignation, "sincere regret" for "the untimely ending of my tenure at OSF, but it has become clear to me, for deeply personal reasons, it is in my best interest to resign."

Donovan said the OSF board was pleased with Woronicz's four-year tenure and had expected him to fulfill the remaining two years of a new three-year contract. He also said the board had welcomed changes Woronicz had instituted at the festival, even those that angered some longtime patrons. OSF performs classical and modern plays in its 10-month seasons.

Woronicz's changes included increasing ethnic diversity in OSF's large acting corps, adding more modern and daring plays to its repertoire, and increasing focus on developing new scripts.

Woronicz, who is playing the lead role in "The Cure of Troy," an OSF production that opens in July, is reportedly considering short-term jobs, including a directing stint in Hong Kong.

Though he would not specify his reasons for resigning, sources close to Woronicz, who is in his early 40s, suggest that he wants to return to full-time acting and directing, and that running a large and fairly conservative arts organization did not satisfy his artistic needs.

OSF will mount a national search for Woronicz's replacement.