SANTA PAULA : Director of Theater Submits Resignation

Actor Dana Elcar submitted his resignation as artistic director of the Santa Paula Theater Center at a special meeting Monday of the center’s board of directors.

Elcar, who did not attend the meeting, submitted the resignation by letter.

In an interview before the meeting, he called the position “a full-time job.”

“I’ve been doing it for eight years and, frankly, I’m exhausted,” Elcar said. “I need some time to relax, look at the world and refresh my point of view. . . . I’m grateful to all the people who have supported the theater over the years. I hope it will continue to grow.”

Board secretary Leslie Nichols accepted the resignation, saying Elcar had served the center well. “He gave a gift to the community of his time and talents,” Nichols said.

No decisions have been made yet about his replacement, officials said.

Elcar is one of the founders of the Los Angeles Actors Theater, which later became the Los Angeles Theater Center, and has had a long career in motion pictures and television. He co-starred in ABC-TV’s “MacGyver” for seven years.

Elcar and actor William Lucking started free workshops for actors in the basement of the local Presbyterian church in 1985. Those workshops were the seed for the future Theater Center, which began producing plays in 1986.

The center has received grants from the California Arts Council, the Ventura County Community Foundation and recently received a $28,700 grant from the Wiegand Foundation, a Nevada organization.

Elcar recently became blind from glaucoma, a degenerative eye disease, but has continued his acting career.