Old Globe’s No. 2 departing

Jerry Patch, co-artistic director of San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, is leaving the No. 2 position at the Globe to take a job as director of artistic development for New York City’s Manhattan Theatre Club.

Patch -- who joined the Globe in 2005 as resident artistic director and was appointed co-artistic director with Darko Tresnjak last fall -- will leave May 31.

Patch’s departure follows close on the heels of December’s announcement that Tony Award-winning director Jack O’Brien would step down after 26 years as artistic director.

Globe executive producer Lou Spisto, who was promoted from executive director to chief executive/ executive producer after O’Brien’s departure, said Patch’s New York job offer “came out of the blue and was, at the end of the day, something that he in his heart really wanted to do. He and I are both interested in continuing to have Jerry’s relationship with the Globe continue.”

Patch, who served as dramaturge at South Coast Repertory before moving to the Globe, could not be reached for comment.

Spisto said the theater would replace Patch with “an individual or individuals” who can continue Patch’s mandate of bringing new artists to the Globe, but may not maintain the current co-artistic director structure.

-- Diane Haithman