WESTPORT — Mark Lamos, the artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse since 2009, will leave the post next January.

Over 15 seasons, Lamos oversaw 64 productions at the local theater, directing 25 of them, according to the playhouse announcement of his departure Thursday.

Lamos will direct his final production as artistic director, a new adaptation of “Dial M for Murder,” from July 11-29.

His tenure will be celebrated at the playhouse’s annual gala Sept. 9, the theater said.

“I worked hard to raise its already formidable artistic standards through my collaboration with some truly world-class, American theater artists, staging the most physically beautiful productions our budgets allowed,” Lamos said in the announcement of his departure.

Lamos was “never been afraid to challenge us with the important stories brought to life on stage, in productions of stellar quality,” Anna Czekaj-Farber, chairwoman of the playhouse Board of Trustees, said in the statement.

“His skilled directing has been marked by creative interpretation, surprising elements, poetic and melodic beauty elicited from well-known classics such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Camelot,’ and modern plays like ‘Mlima’s Tale.’ Mark leaves an inspiring legacy of theater worth talking about.” 

Czekaj-Farber said the theater’s “board and staff now look forward to this opportunity to put in motion our plan for the future, working diligently to ensure stability, continuity and a smooth transition to the new artistic leadership in 2024 and to a robust, vibrant Westport Country Playhouse of the future.”

With Lamos as artistic director, the Westport Country Playhouse was awarded five Connecticut Critics Circle Awards for his direction of its productions. The playhouse was named “Theater Company of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal in 2013.

Lamos, in the playhouse statement, recalled one of the most significant moments of his playhouse tenure occurred not long after he assumed the role.

It involved “replacing an ailing Paul Newman as director of John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men,’ a bucket list play for me until then. 

“Paul’s death during our rehearsals inspired me and a superb cast of actors to strive for the finest work possible. Joanne Woodward, during the very last days of Paul’s illness, was actually present at our first rehearsal. What heroism that must have taken,” he recalled.

Among the many other playhouse productions he cited include: Phylicia Rashad’s “sensitive, deeply felt, and layered” production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun;” his staging of the musical, “She Loves Me;” a production of A.R. Gurney’s “The Dining Room” that was “purring like a Rolls Royce;” the world premiere of Matthew Greene’s play, “Thousand Pines;” “Man of LaMancha” staged with an all-Latino cast, and Lynn Nottage’s “Mlima’s Tale,” recalled as “probably the most personally meaningful project over the 15 seasons of my tenure.”

Among Lamos’s other professional credits are productions on and off Broadway, as the Hartford Stage artistic director and presentations at theater and opera venues nationally and internationally.

He has been awarded the Connecticut Medal for the Arts, as well as honorary doctorates from Connecticut College, Trinity College and the University of Hartford, and was the recipient of the John Houseman Award.