Director and producer Neel [sic] Keller has been appointed artistic associate of the La Jolla Playhouse, which is about to begin its 50th season.

Keller has worked at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, NY's Lincoln Center Theatre and the American National Theatre. From 1992-1995, Keller served as artistic director of Chicago's Remains Theatre. As a Boris Segal Directing Fellow at Williamstown, he directed the workshop production of an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone.

After serving as Jerome Robbins' assistant on Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Keller helped co-produce (with John Guare) the NY Public Library play reading series, "Reading Room Readings."

Michael Greif, artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, praised Keller's "extraordinary energy, enthusiasm and affection for his work... He is an accomplished director and a sensitive administrator... He invited me to direct Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest at the Remains Theatre, which I count among my happiest theatre experiences."

At La Jolla, Keller will assist Greif with season planning, new projects, casting and "artistic supervision." He will also direct a large-scale show in 1997. La Jolla Playhouse was founded by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and then revived in 1983 under Des McAnuff's leadership. Opening the season will be Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest (May 13-June 15), followed by the West Coast premiere of Jonathan Larson's musical, Rent (previews July 1, plays July 13-Aug. 31), for which Greif will recreate his Broadway staging. Neither production has been cast yet. In 1993, the not-for-profit La Jolla Playhouse of San Diego won the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

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--By David Lefkowitz