New leadership for Old Globe

Acknowledging that he has become more of a Broadway baby than a steward for San Diego, Jack O’Brien is stepping down after 26 years as artistic director of the Old Globe Theatre.

Moonlighting regularly on Broadway since 2000, he has earned three Tony Awards as director of “Hairspray,” Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” and Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia.”

In a statement Thursday, Globe officials said that with his contract expiring at year’s end, O’Brien acknowledged that his schedule no longer allows him to devote enough time to the Globe, “and ultimately it was his decision to step down.”

Succeeding him as co-artistic directors are Jerry Patch and Darko Tresnjak. Patch, a dramaturge whose forte is new-play development, arrived in 2005 to supervise day-to-day operations, and stage director Tresnjak has overseen the Globe’s Shakespeare festival since 2004. They will report to Lou Spisto, the executive director whose title will be chief executive/executive producer.

-- Mike Boehm