STEPHEN Joseph Theatre artistic director Chris Monks is to leave the Scarborough company on December 11 after seven years.

Since succeeding Alan Ayckbourn in January 2009, the South Yorkshireman has directed 24 productions, revitalised the literary department and launched a community facility, the SJT OutReach Rooms.

“With the arrival of Mathew Russell, the SJT’s new chief executive, this is the right time to step aside and return to my former work as a freelance director, writer and teacher," said Chris. "I have several sizeable theatre projects in development which I’m looking forward to realising in the coming months.

“I’ve spent seven years in Scarborough and made some wonderful friends. I’ve been very proud of the shows I’ve directed here and the significant progress we’ve made in widening the scope of our productions in a very challenging economic environment."

Reflecting on his time at the SJT, he said: "I consider the success of our community work through SJT OutReach and the recent opening of the OutReach Rooms to be two of the most significant achievements of my career, and vital in developing the new audiences the SJT needs to ensure a prosperous future. There are extremely dedicated and talented people working for the SJT; I wish my staff, our audience and everyone associated with it the best of luck for the future.”

Richard Grunwell, chairman of the board of trustees, said: “Chris has been dedicated in using his considerable talent for the benefit of the Stephen Joseph Theatre; particularly his adaptations in musical theatre, his foresight in developing the SJT OutReach work and the imagination to bring it in-house. We thank him and we wish him well in his career ahead, knowing that he leaves a legacy upon which we can build for the future."

New SJT chief executive Mathew Russell said: “Although I've only known Chris for a short time and have spent little time in his company yet, when I have, I've been really impressed with his passion for SJT and for using the arts to reach out to the widest range of residents of Scarborough and beyond.‎ We will be careful to build on his‎ artistic achievements and in particular his pioneering of SJT's OutReach work. I know everyone involved in SJT, including our audiences and participants, will want to thank him enormously for all his hard work and commitment.

“I'm sorry we won't have the opportunity to work closely together for long, but look forward to what time we do have, and to ensuring we use it well to help herald the next chapter in SJT's exciting future.”

Russell joins the SJT from London’s Southbank Centre, where he was executive producer, having earlier spent five years as executive director of Watford Palace Theatre from 2009 to 2014. He has worked with such theatres and arts organisations as the Greenwich & Docklands Festivals, The Theatre in Chipping Norton and the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre.

Chris Monks was born and brought up on the Hackenthorpe council estate in Sheffield and studied in Leeds. Before his arrival at the SJT, he made his mark with his irreverent musical theatre adaptations of operas at the New Vic Theatre in Staffordshire and the Orange Tree in Richmond, as well as working as a freelance theatre director and writer. He was an associate director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester too.

In Scarborough, he has directed such shows as Ron Hutchinson's screwball Hollywood comedy Milk And Magnolias; the SouthAfrican play Sizwe Banzi Is Dead; David Mamet's lesser-spotted chamber piece Boston Marriage; A Midsummer Night's Dream with a female Puck in a tattooed "nude" suit; and Monks's cricketing re-boot of The Mikado.

Then there was his new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen; Bizet's Carmen, set in a run-down shopping mall; a Christmas production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit with more physical comedy than usual; Fiona Evans's darkly humorous, if strained combination of dementia and a north eastern tribute act in Geordie Sinatra; and Soul Man, in which Monks "took a chainsaw to Verdi's Rigoletto" and it wasn't a pretty sight. Far better was a bravura, champagne-theatre winter production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest.

Monks's world premiere of Roger Osborne's Laughton turned the spotlight on a famous son of Scarborough, Hollywood actor Charles Laughton; Arthur Wing Pinero's Victorian farce The Schoolmistress affirmed why it is performed only rarely; last summer came his multi-media adaptation of York writer Andrew Martin's detective thriller The Last Train To Scarborough and a double bill of Sir Arthur Sullivan's cross-dressed romp Cox & Box and Monks's own Mrs Bouncer's Legacy, a satire on modern British politics set in the very near future. Last Christmas he teamed up with composer Andrew Pollard for a magical musical version of Aladdin.

This year Monks is overseeing the SJT's 60th anniversary season and his last production, in December, will be announced soon.