Josie Rourke Named Artistic Director of London’s Donmar Warehouse

London's Donmar Warehouse has announced that Josie Rourke will assume the role of artistic director on January 1, 2012, taking over from current artistic director Michael Grandage.

This appointment brings Rourke back to the Donmar, where she trained with the company’s "Resident Assistant Director Scheme" in 2000, working alongside Grandage, Nicholas Hytner, Phyllida Lloyd and Sam Mendes. At the Donmar, she has directed works that include Frame 312, World Music and The Cryptogram.

“I am thrilled and honored to have been asked by the Board of the Donmar Warehouse to become its next Artistic Director,” Rourke said in a statement. “Ten years ago, I started my career as the Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar. Nothing could make me more proud than to return to the place where I began. Both Michael Grandage and Sam Mendes have always been great friends and invaluable mentors and when I take over as the Donmar's Artistic Director I will inherit their legacy of twenty years of wonderful productions, extraordinary performances and great nights out at the theatre.”

Rourke is currently the artistic director of the Bush Theatre in London; prior to joining the Bush she worked for five years as a freelance director and was associate director of Sheffield Theatres and trainee associate director at the Royal Court. She has directed at the Young Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and will direct Catherine Tate and David Tennant in Much Ado About Nothing at the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre in May.