Todd London, artistic director of , a playwriting center in New York, has been named the new executive director of the .

“We are thrilled to have Todd London join us,” said , divisional dean of arts for the UW College of Arts and Sciences. “Todd is an acknowledged leader in the field and has a solid reputation for being one of the most important voices speaking of and for the American theater today.”

A writer and scholar, London has led New Dramatists since 1996. He has taught at Harvard University and New York University, and now teaches at the Yale School of Drama. He earned a master’s of fine arts degree in directing from Boston University and a doctorate in literary studies from American University.

The former managing editor of “American Theatre” magazine, London has written, edited or contributed to a dozen books. Among these is 2013’s “,” which included writing by longtime UW professor .

London will succeed Sarah Nash Gates, the school’s director since 1994, who will return to teaching as a part-time faculty member.

“Todd will bring a fresh perspective on training 21st century artists and scholars,” said Gates. “We are fortunate to find a person with such deep and wide experience as a practitioner, writer and historian. I look forward to his tenure as executive director.”

For his part, London praised the school’s “vibrant” work and “enormous” impact on theater in Seattle and across the nation.

“Recently, I’ve seen up close the remarkable gifts and educational devotion of the faculty and staff, under the energetic leadership of Sarah Nash Gates. The school’s dedication to exploring the roots of theatrical expression and finding creative ways to educate artists and scholars for the new forms of the new century is inspiring.”

He said the job “represents, for me, the fulfillment of a career of service to artists and professional development.”

London will relocate to Seattle and begin his duties as director, and professor of drama, on Aug. 1, pending approval of his hiring by the UW Board of Regents.

He will be joined at the School of Drama by his wife, Karen Hartman, an award-winning playwright who will be a senior artist in residence.

London added, “A great theater school in a great theater city — I can’t wait to begin.”

• This article was based on a by of the School of Drama.

Blau’s six-decade theater and academic career was extraordinary for a Brooklyn-born plumber’s son who studied engineering as an undergraduate and attended not a single play while growing up.

He earned both a master’s degree in speech and drama and a doctorate in English and American literature from Stanford University. Though a longtime professional theater practitioner, Blau was ambivalent at best about academic theater departments.

A stage experimenter, Blau co-founded and co-directed the Actor’s Workshop of San Francisco from 1952 until 1965 with partner Julius Irving, overseeing a famous production of Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” at California’s San Quentin State Prison.

He co-directed the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center in New York until 1967. After a brief stint as provost of the then-new California Institute for the Arts, Blau founded another experimental theater group called Kraken, borrowing the name from a letter Herman Melville wrote to Nathanial Hawthorne.

At the UW, Blau was the Byron W. and Alice L. Lockwood Professor of the Humanities and professor emeritus of English and comparative literature, with an adjunct appointment in the School of Drama.

Blau was the author of dozens of articles and many books, notable among them being “” in 1964, and “,” in 2011.

He was annoyed by productions that played “Godot” for laughs, and preferred it when the audience didn’t know what to expect.

, Blau said, “I often say to my students, ‘When I know what I think, I couldn’t care less. It’s when I don’t know what I think, when I’m utterly baffled, that I really like it, because that’s when I have to keep thinking. It keeps the mind going.”

A memorial is being planned, possibly for June 22. Memorial contributions may be made to the Joseph and Yetta Blau Fund for Graduate Fellowships at the UW.

• to a Katz Lecture Blau gave for the Simpson Center in 2004.
• Read Blau’s .