George C. Wolfe leaving as head of New York's Public Theater

George C. Wolfe is leaving as head of the Public Theater, one of the country's foremost nonprofit theaters--an institution that under his guidance gave birth to such shows as the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog and Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk.

Wolfe, who announced his resignation at JET press time, will leave the post sometime during the 2004-2005 theater season.

He said he wants to devote more time writing plays, novels and screenplays.

"I love the job, especially nurturing and feeding artists, but every single dynamic has another consequence, and I haven't been able to carve out the amount of isolated time that it takes to write," he explained.

He told the New York Times: "The Public Theater requires one to be very public, and writing requires one to be very private. You have to be available to the invisible voices that are swirling around you."

Wolfe, 49, who held the job as producer of Public Theater since 1993, will leave on a high note, stepping down at a time when the Public seems to be recovering from its artistic and financial stumbles of several years ago.

"Things at the theater are now in an incredibly positive place, the work is going well and the institution is financially very solvent," Wolfe said. "It seemed like the right time to do it. Now I can move on."

Wolfe first worked at the famed theater in 1986 as a playwright and won acclaim as author of The Colored Museum, a satire about Black stereotypes.

He wrote and directed Jelly's Last Jam, a musical about Jelly Roll Morton, starring Gregory Hines. He also directed Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, which was created with Savion Glover.

This spring, he will oversee the transfer of the musical Caroline, or Change to Broadway. Before that, however, he will direct his first feature film, an adaptation for HBO of Ruben Santiago-Hudson's childhood memoir, Lackawanna Blues, which was performed at the Public in 2001.

Wolfe said he will remain as a board member and will direct A Mid-summer Night's Dream in New York s Central Park in the summer of 2005.

"My leaving depends on the results of the board's search for my replacement. I've already planned next season. I just want to be sure there is a correct handoff. It's a phasing out, if you will."