SAN FRANCISCO: Cutting Ball Theater has announced that cofounder Paige Rogers will be the company’s new artistic director, effective at the end of the 2015–16 season. Rogers succeeds cofounder Rob Melrose, who will step down after a yearlong sabbatical. Melrose will remain on the theatre’s board and take on the role of founding artistic director.

“I am so excited for this next phase in Cutting Ball’s history, as well as the next phase of my own creative work,” Melrose said in a statement. “These past few years, I have had the opportunity to direct at the Public Theater, the Guthrie, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Old Globe, and PlayMakers Rep, among others. Working at some of the most respected theatres in the country has pushed my work forward, and I am looking forward to pursing more of these kinds of opportunities.”

Rogers and Melrose are married with two children, and founded the theatre together in 1999 with the mission of producing avant-garde works, both new and old. When Melrose went on sabbatical, Rogers assumed the position on an interim basis.

“As cofounder of Cutting Ball Theater, I had a hand in building the organization from its inception in 1999, but the person driving the bus, so to speak, has always been Rob,” Rogers said in a statement. “Rob has directed more than 25 plays for Cutting Ball, and his artistic vision has helped the theatre to become widely recognized and respected. It’s exciting to see him become more entrenched in the national theatre scene, and perhaps, in the near future, in the international scene as well; his departure from Cutting Ball just seems like a natural progression…This transition does not seem like a departure, rather a shifting of energies.”