Victory Gardens Theatre

Being artistic director of a major regional stage company means you get to give everyone "notes" — theater lingo for putting in your two cents while a play is being readied. Being Marc Masterson, newly arrived as South Coast Repertory's artistic director, means you may still have to receive a note or two, at least when it comes to interior decorating.

David Emmes, South Coast's co-founder and the previous occupant of Masterson's corner office at the Costa Mesa theater, had one to give after he saw the poster the new man had propped on a chest of drawers. It shows photographs from 21 plays Masterson directed during nearly 11 years as artistic director of Actors...