Ted Sperling, the respected music director and stage director, has been named associate artistic director of the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia, the organization named for Harold Prince and devoted to new music-theatre works.

Sperling has been associated with the Prince for 10 years, and will now assist and help guide the artistic mission of Marjorie Samoff, founder of the American Music Theater Festival, now known as the Prince Music Theater. Samoff's role as producing director has been reshaped and renamed "producing artistic director." Julie Felise Dubiner serves as the company's dramaturg.

Sperling was music director of AMTF/Prince's Floyd Collins in 1999 and directed the mainstage productions, Charlotte: Life? Or Theater? and Lady in the Dark in 2001.

In his new capacity as associate artistic director at the Prince, he will be the primary liaison between Samoff and the creative teams for each mainstage production, scouting for new works to premiere and coordinating and assisting the "curatorial selection of works for the Prince's spring festival debut in 2003" and administering the theatre's Sondheim Award for new, promising composers. He will direct at least one mainstage production per year.

Sperling is music director of The Full Monty's international stagings. He has been Audra McDonald's music director for the past two years. Among Broadway shows that he's music directed are How to Succeed in Business..., Kiss of the Spider Woman and My Favorite Year. Prince Music Theater is located at 1421 Chestnut Street at Broad in Philadelphia. Its 2002-2003 season will be announced shortly. Visit princemusictheater.org.

— By Kenneth Jones