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R. Scott Phillips, the Utah Shakespeare Festival's executive director, announced his retirement on Wednesday and then took the day off to focus on his flower garden.

Phillips, 63, has held many leadership roles at the Cedar City company, but his career there began in 1977 when the Southern Utah University graduate was hired as USF's first full-time employee.

"I still love it and I will always love it and it will always be my passion, but I was thinking there's maybe another level that somebody else can take it," Phillips said on Thursday. "It's about the people and the journey, and it feels like a giant family reunion every year, the collaboration with the acting company, and some patrons who return year after year."

Phillips, who also worked as USF's managing director and marketing director, will continue with the company through March 1. A national search to fill the position will begin next month, company officials announced.

His 40-year partnership with festival co-founder Fred C. Adams is something of an anomaly in the American theater world. Through his years at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Phillips developed additional professional skills, including marketing, audience development and union relations, based on the company's needs.

"I've sort of learned on the job, as it were," Phillips says. "I've had the very good fortune to be mentored and guided by this remarkable American theater icon. My whole professional life, in essence, I owe to him for giving me the opportunity."

Adams returned the compliment, calling Phillips the company's engine and guiding light.

"He has literally dedicated his life to the festival and held the year-round staff together against all kinds of adversities," Adams said in a statement. "No goal was too high, no job too menial — as was evidenced with the opening of the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts. He purchased trees, placed them in strategic spots, planted dozens of flower pots, ordered equipment and trained additional staff to create an environment for our guests, all while he continued to seek additional funding to cover a hundred needed changes and niceties."

One of Phillips' most prominent decisions came in 2010 when he hired longtime "festival favorite" actors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn as the company's co-artistic directors — a unique leadership split in the national theater world. It marked the first time the festival had delineated the roles of producing and fundraising from artistic management.

"Scott will always be a legend at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and I am a better person for having had the chance to work and learn from him," said Jeffery R. Nelson, chairman of USF's board, in a statement underscoring Phillips' dedication.

During Phillips' tenure, USF grew from three annual shows and a budget of $329,000 to nine plays and a $7 million operating budget. The company, which attracts more than 100,000 theatergoers annually, in July opened the $39 million Beverley Center, which includes two new theaters.

Phillips says he plans to stay in Cedar City, and although he has no immediate commitments beyond March, he hopes to stay involved in the state's artistic community. "I want to give back to more than just one field," he says.

In addition to his festival jobs, Phillips co-founded and served as president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association, as well as past president of the Rocky Mountain Theatre Association. He is a current theater panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and is on the board of the Utah Arts Council.

In addition, he has directed more than 55 university and professional theater productions, including the 1989 world premiere of "Nothing Like the Sun." The one-person show featured Patrick Page playing Shakespeare's frenemy Ben Jonson and was commissioned by USF to mark the opening of the Randall Jones Theatre in 1989.

Phillips, a native of Caliente, Nev., received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utah Theatre Association in 2001 and was named an Outstanding Staff Member for Southern Utah University in 1990.

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