Artistic Directors

Libby Appel was walking up the steps of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Elizabethan Theatre, where the stark set for her farewell production of "The Tempest" was still on stage, when a voice came out of the shadows. "Libby, thank you so much for all you have done," said the woman. "This was the best 'Tempest' ever!" After 12 years as artistic director, Libby Appel is bowing out.

Richard Stein resigned suddenly this week after 17 years as executive director of the Laguna Playhouse, saying in a statement Thursday that he "longed to spend more time on the artistic side" of theater and couldn't do that while handling his job's business responsibilities.

Jim Alexander, 50, the artistic director and chief executive of Quest Theatre in Los Angeles and a veteran stage actor, singer, dancer and choreographer, died of a heart attack Friday in Los Angeles, his friend Michael Druxman said. A native of Riverside, Alexander performed on Broadway in "Peter Pan" in the early 1990s and in numerous other touring shows.

Tony Award-winning stage and screen veteran Jason Alexander is taking on a new role: artistic director of Reprise! Broadway's Best. The actor widely recognized as George on the "Seinfeld" TV series has big plans for Los Angeles-based Reprise, a not-for-profit theater known for stripped-down versions of vintage musicals such as "Company," "Kismet" and "Pippin."

Colin Graham, the artistic director of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, died Friday of respiratory and cardiac arrest at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis. He was 75. During his 29 years in St. Louis, Graham staged 48 new productions, according to a statement from Charles MacKay, general manager of Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Graham's world premiere production of David Carlson's "Anna Karenina" is scheduled to open April 28 at Florida Grand Opera in Miami and June 3 in St. Louis.

With repeat off-Broadway successes but a less-proven record in commercial theater, stage director Christopher Ashley will become La Jolla Playhouse's artistic director in October, succeeding Des McAnuff, who turned the playhouse into a developmental workshop and launching pad for a series of Broadway hits. Announcing the 42-year-old New Yorker's appointment Tuesday, the playhouse's board chairman, Ralph Bryan, said a wide-ranging search had yielded "an accomplished theater artist ...

Kathy Halbreich, a highly regarded contemporary art specialist who has directed the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis for 16 years and spearheaded its recent expansion and $100-million capital campaign, will leave her position Nov. 1. "I have at least one more chapter in my professional life and, as I approach my 58th birthday, I want to be open to new challenges and opportunities," Halbreich said in a statement released by the museum.

RE "Losing the Lion's Share," by Diane Haithman, Nov. 28: It would be enlightening to read a follow-up article taking a look at why dancers are pushed to make the choice between an artistically rewarding career and a contract that will allow them to earn enough money to pay their bills. In the past years, the financial situation of dance companies around the United States has become critical. The boards of directors of these dance organizations, state agencies such as the California Arts Council and the federal government are all responsible for the situation.