Sources confirmed to Playbill On-Line that Eustis has nabbed the assignment. An official announcement came at 2:15 PM on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

The appointment is not a surprise. For the last few weeks, Eustis' status as lead contender for the job was common knowledge in the theatre community. Other candidates included Doug Hughes, who reportedly removed himself from consideration a few weeks ago.

Eustis will be the successor to current company head George C. Wolfe.

Oskar Eustis is the artistic director of Rhode Island's Trinity Rep. Like Wolfe, he is closely associated with playwright Tony Kushner; as leader of San Francisco's Eureka Theater Company, he commissed Kushner's most famous work, Angels in America. He later directed its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. He also comissioned and directed the premiere of Emily Mann's Execution of Justice.

More recently, he directed the world premiere of Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home at Trinity Rep. He was hired at Trinity in 1994. Eustis is known for supporting new work by American playwrights.