Effective immediately, Mark Murphy has resigned as artistic director of On the Boards, a position he’s held since 1986. Though last Friday’s official press announcement quotes him as saying, “This is a good time for me to make a change,” it isn’t out of line to wonder what, unofficially, made this time feel right for Murphy—his tenure at OTB has been filled with both triumph and trauma for some years. He was largely responsible for fostering relationships with many of the national artists who have made the company a vital contemporary performance center. But Murphy has also had an embattled relationship with the Board, which attempted to remove him in 1999 until vociferous community support eventually caused his reinstatement, with a new contract that would have expired this November. In the measured press release, Murphy remarks only, “It is no secret that the Board and I have been trying to resolve differences for the past three years.” Managing Director Diane Ragsdale estimates it will take six to nine months before a national search can produce his successor.
Steve Wiecking
