The Sydney Theatre Company has named Jonathan Church, who heads the prestigious Chichester Festival Theater in Britain, as its new artistic director, the company announced Tuesday.
Church will succeed Andrew Upton, who has served as artistic director of Australia's most prominent theater company for the last eight years, the first five of those alongside his wife, actress Cate Blanchett.
The company said Church will begin work scheduling the 2017 season "immediately" and will work between Australia and England through September 2016.
Church, who is also a stage director, joined the Chichester Festival Theater in 2006, and under his leadership, the company has launched productions that have gone on to Broadway or London's West End and toured internationally.