CEDAR CITY, Utah, Sept. 7, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — R. Scott Phillips, executive director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, has announced he will retired at the end of the season.
Phillips will continue with the festival through March of next year to ensure a smooth transition for his successor.
Phillips was the festival’s first full-time employee.
“For over 40 years, Scott Phillips has been a guiding light and engine of the Utah Shakespeare Festival,” said Fred C. Adams, festival founder, in a prepared statement.
“He has literally dedicated his life to the Festival and held the year-round staff together against all kinds of adversities. No goal was too high, no job too menial.”
Phillips’ decision to retire will bring to a close a 40-year career with the festival. First hired in 1977, he has served as executive director since 2007 and was previously the festival’s managing director for 15 years, and prior to that, the marketing director for 13 years.
Phillips said he has enjoyed the work.
“I feel blessed for the opportunity to spend my professional life with an organization I care deeply about,” he said in the news release.
Under Phillips’ leadership, the festival has grown from three shows per year and a budget of $329,000 to nine plays in repertory and a $7 million operating budget. The festival attracts more than 100,000 visitors annually.
