Rees lands Ritchie’s Mass. post

Welsh actor and director Roger Rees will succeed Michael Ritchie, Center Theatre Group’s next artistic director, in the top job at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in northwestern Massachusetts.

Rees has directed four productions at Williamstown since 1997 and will hold the title of artistic director instead of producer, which has been Ritchie’s title. Unlike Ritchie, Rees is expected to direct individual productions as well as supervise the larger artistic endeavors at Williamstown, a summer-only theater that is moving into a new home next year.

As an actor, Rees won Tony and Olivier awards for the title role of “Nicholas Nickleby” and held recurring roles on “Cheers” and “The West Wing.”

In L.A., Ritchie said, “I kept my fingerprints off the process” of finding his replacement because of his friendships with most of the top contenders, but Rees is “a terrific choice. He knows the lay of the land.”

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Don Shirley