Armfield announced during a recent Company B general meeting that he plans to program the company's 2010 season but will pursue freelance work in the near future.

Armfield is also a co-founder of the Australian theatre company. No successor has been named, although Variety reports that contenders include the company's associate director, Wesley Enoch, and Griffin Theater Company's David Berthold.

The acclaimed Broadway revival of Exit the King, directed by Armfield, began life at Company B's Belvoir St. Theater.

Neil Armfield has directed plays, operas, musicals and films. He received Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Director ("Edens Lost," 1989) and Best Adapted Screenplay (with Luke Davies) for "Candy" (2006, starring Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush), and the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts in Australia. International awards include Best Production, Dublin Festival (Cloudstreet); Best Director, Dora Awards, Canada (Billy Budd); and Best Opera Production, Barclays Award, U.K. (Billy Budd).

Armfield will helm Opera Australia's Peter Grimes in October. For more information about Company B, visit www.belvoir.com.au.