South Coast rehires Glore

South Coast Repertory has named John Glore the first associate artistic director in the theater’s history, luring him back to the Costa Mesa theater company after he spent five years as Center Theatre Group’s dramaturge in Los Angeles.

Glore was literary manager at South Coast for 15 seasons before taking the job in L.A. He will fill a hole in the South Coast leadership that was created when longtime dramaturge Jerry Patch decamped to become resident artistic director at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

In his new post, Glore will help plan South Coast’s programming and assume some producing responsibilities in addition to resuming his previous work with playwrights. He would be “a very strong candidate” to eventually assume the artistic leadership of the company, said producing artistic director David Emmes. But he and artistic director Martin Benson are “a few seasons away” from stepping down, he added.