Lawson Taitte

David Kennedy is going to miss road trips to West Texas, his Oak Cliff apartment and the "refreshing straightforwardness" of Dallas folks.

WILLIAM DESHAZER/DMN

David Kennedy will direct The Misanthrope at Dallas Theater Center's Kalita Humphreys Theater. Then, it's off to New York.

Mr. Kennedy leaves his post as Dallas Theater Center's associate director after his final show there, The Misanthrope, closes. He'll move back to New York City to resume his career as a freelance director in time to stage Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in the fall.

"There's a sense here that life is kind of livable," he says wistfully. "But I'm moving on to a new stage of my career, a new stage of life."

The Nova Scotia native first came to Dallas in 1996 as a literary intern at the Theater Center. He later picked up some freelance jobs here and was a frequent visitor to Texas even after starting at the Yale Drama School because his brother was studying jazz percussion at the University of North Texas.

Then-artistic director Richard Hamburger brought Mr. Kennedy back to the Theater Center as his associate in 2004, and the younger director staged shows such as The Violet Hour and I Am My Own Wife. During the planning for the current season, as the company searched for a successor to Mr. Hamburger, Mr. Kennedy was interim artistic director in everything but name.

Mr. Kennedy knew that after new artistic director Kevin Moriarty came on board, he'd either have to step back and take on a lesser role or go elsewhere. When he decided to return to freelance work, he had a happy surprise: The same day he sent out a mass e-mail announcing his availability, he had an offer for the upcoming Romeo and Juliet.

"These sorts of signs from the universe are always encouraging," he says.

Mr. Kennedy also will continue to lead the Lunar Society, the theater collective he organized in Toronto in 2002. The company premiered Mr. Kennedy's script Brighter Than the Light of the Sun three years ago. The group is currently putting together an original work inspired by former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

During this final year at the Theater Center, Mr. Kennedy has had the opportunity to choose his own material to direct – rarely the case for somebody in his job description. He chose David Mamet's American classic Glengarry Glen Ross for last fall and The Misanthrope to close the season.

The Molière comedy opens Tuesday, but the Theater Center produced it as recently as 1993. Weren't there other equally deserving and less familiar plays that might have fit into this spot?

"Fifteen years between productions might as well be a lifetime for the audience," Mr. Kennedy says. "It's one of the plays I've always wanted to do. If you're completely honest with yourself, you will always find an unflattering portrait of yourself in this play."

The director admits it's not the self-righteous, antisocial hero he identifies with, or any of the gossips or fops. It's an offstage person that the heroine, Celimene, describes as part of a list of everyone she knows and dislikes – a man who adopts a pose of refinement and taste to distinguish himself from the crowd.

"She's such a good judge of character that she zeroes in on everyone's fault," Mr. Kennedy says.

What makes The Misanthrope stand out among Molière's comedies for Mr. Kennedy is its realism and psychological acuity.

"It accommodates a variety of tones – such a mélange of sweet and sour," he says. "It reminds me in some ways of Chekhov, and I wouldn't say that of any other Molière."

That 1993 version was transposed to contemporary California, with Hollywood jokes substituted for the Molière's topical ones. Mr. Kennedy has kept to the original place and period – with some adjustments.

"We try to make the 17th century seem as hip and flashy and sexy to us as it felt to them," Mr. Kennedy says.

Although The Misanthrope is Mr. Kennedy's last gig at the Theater Center for a while, he hopes to be invited back sometime. But we won't have to wait for that to see his work on a Dallas stage again.

In 2005 Mr. Kennedy directed a staged reading of Psychos Never Dream by novelist-playwright Denis Johnson for the Theater Center. It was such a hit that Kitchen Dog Theater has put the show on its 2008-09 season, and Mr. Kennedy will return to Dallas to direct.

Maybe he can take a drive out west while he's here.PLAN YOUR LIFE: The Misanthrope opens at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and runs through May 18 at the Dallas Theater Center's Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. at Blackburn. $15 to $60. 214-522-8499, www.dallastheatercenter.org.

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