Although La Jolla Playhouse's new artistic director has been ensconced in the theater's UCSD digs for going on a year now, the Chris Ashley Era is really just getting started.

The first Playhouse season programmed by Ashley opened in April with “33 Variations”; “Memphis” is the first show he has directed there.

Still, based on those shows and others coming up – including the restaging of his own Broadway success “Xanadu” – is this season a template for others to come?

Not so much.

“I hope it's different every year,” Ashley says of the programming's feel. “I hope the season is constantly a surprising experience.”

That said, his seasons will follow a few loose guidelines.

“There'll always be at least one musical,” Ashley says. “There'll always be at least one revival of a classic play, and there will always be new plays.”

Ashley says he'll likely do some directing of his own outside the Playhouse, though less so during this season and next. (He has an upcoming staged reading of a new musical called “The Big Time” with his “Xanadu” collaborator Douglas Carter Beane which may or may not become a Playhouse project.)

Looking ahead, Ashley wants to launch an interdisciplinary, biennial arts festival – perhaps two years from now – focusing on a different theme each time, such as technology.

And the East Coast native hopes someday to figure out San Diegans' fixation on the weather.

“Everyone talks about the weather all the time here,” he observes. “And there isn't any. It seems a small thing to be surprised by. But I'm surprised by it every day.”

– JAMES HEBERT