First Folio's Sandys takes artistic reins at Remy Bumppo

Artistic director wasn't a role Nick Sandys intended to play, at least not right now.

But when Remy Bumppo Theatre's board of directors offered it to him last week, in the wake of last month's resignation of artistic director Timothy Douglas after less than one year, he accepted.

A member of Remy Bumppo since 2001 and an artistic associate with Oak Brook's First Folio Theatre, Sandys acknowledged taking over for Douglas will require him to limit the time he devotes to acting, directing and fight choreography.

“I'll have to be more circumspect now,” says the Jeff Award-winner who has earned a total of 12 nominations. “But I'm ready to take this on.”

Speaking by phone Wednesday night from First Folio, where he is conducting a workshop, Sandys said that Douglas' departure after six months came as a complete surprise. But he praised Douglas saying “it was a brave decision of his to say, ‘we're not the right mix.'”

Sandys indicated that getting back to the Remy Bumppo brand — producing classics with the grace and elegance that became the company's trademark — figures prominently in his back-to-the-basics approach. At the same time, he says he wants to pursue diversity and balance the refinement the company is known for with a hip sensibility. He added that the company will continue to put the text first and produce complex, meaty plays.

Remy Bumppo has a certain niche, rooted in its core ensemble of mature, experienced actors, Sandys says. That won't change.

“We have a unique company that sprang from the head of (founding artistic director) James Bohnen fully formed,” he said. “Now we have to find out how to do that for ourselves.”