Sara Garonzik, long-time head of Philadelphia Theatre Company, stepping down

Sara Garonzik, who has helmed the Philadelphia Theatre Company from its tentative days as a professional troupe in 1982 to its status as a well-regarded and highly visible anchor for the Avenue of the Arts, has decided to step down from her post as executive producing director.

"This will be my 35th season and my last," said Garonzik, 65. "I tell people this, and they are surprised, and I am like, 'Really? It's been 35 years?' "

Garonzik said she will stay on as long as necessary - until the national search for her successor is complete and the company's future is set.

"I am not running out the door, I will work at least through the middle of the next season," she said. "I will remain in Philadelphia. This is my family. I love the company, I am here for them, and I am going to do anything they need me to do for the search. I plan to stay here and pursue other things that are more project oriented. I am not going into a major institutional leadership situation."

PTC board chair E. Gerald Riesenbach lauded the "indelible impact" Garonzik has had on both her company and the larger world of Philadelphia theater.

"With a keen eye for artistic excellence, she has been instrumental in introducing outstanding theater artists to Philadelphia audiences," he said. "In our search for a successor, we will focus on someone whose artistic sensibility, like Sara's, will continue to position PTC at the forefront of the national theater landscape."

Riesenbach said he was happy for Garonzik.

"Change is good," he said, "and I'm happy for Sara, having worked with her so long. She's decided that she'd like to do something else. I'm happy for her.

"For PTC it's challenging and exciting. She's been at the helm a long time and during that time, we've become an important cultural place in the city of Philadelphia."

Garonzik will be leaving following the successful resolution last year of a financial crisis that threatened the existence of the theater.

TD Bank foreclosed on the company's mortgage on the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. But through long negotiations, PTC was able to raise $3 million in donations and secure a $2 million PIDC loan to buy the theater back.

"The fact that we are past that," Riesenbach said, "gives us the opportunity to do this. She has devoted her life to this theater and [resolution of the mortgage issue] has given her the comfort to go forward. This is Sara's desire to do something else. That's what this is about."

Theater artists around the country, expressed dismay at Garonzik's departure, praising the creative milieu cultivated at PTC over three decades.

Bill Irwin, actor, writer, performer, MacArthur Fellow and Tony Award-winner, said he relished his work with PTC. Irwin won a Barrymore in 2004 for his performance in PTC's one-man show Trumbo.

Garonzik also commissioned Irwin's play The Happiness Lecture, which ran in 2008 during the company's first season in the Suzanne Roberts Theatre.

Garonzik, he said, creates a congenial environment for performers and theater artists.

"Sara's touch has always been present, and that to me has been a delight," Irwin said. "My own experience has been remarkably tender and nurtured - over-coddled, you might say."

Garonzik's departure seems "inevitable and bright and shrewd," he said. "It's huge nonetheless."

Mary B. Robinson, who served as artistic director of the Philadelphia Drama Guild from 1990 to 1995 and has come back at least 10 times since to direct for PTC, said Garonzik "made it possible for me to work in Philadelphia by rehearsing in New York."

Following her departure from the failing Drama Guild, Robinson was focused on raising her son. PTC was "the one place I consistently worked from 1995 to 2010," she said.

"It was tremendously important to me professionally and artistically, and let our friendship blossom professionally and personally," Robinson said.

Like Irwin, she said Garonzik had a talent for creating a theater environment that works, bringing together compatible professionals in every aspect of production.

"You always want to be able to work for a theater and artistic director where you feel supported and trusted," she said. "At the same time, it's good to know there's somebody in the trenches with you."

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