Come Monday, you’ll probably read in the Washington Post that at long last, the Studio Theatre has announced a replacement for retiring Artistic Director Joy Zinoman. But if you’re like me, your Mondays can be hectic, so let me save you a little time: The name they’ll announce is that of David Muse.

How do I know? Not because the Studio folks are talking: As they did with the news of Zinoman’s impending departure, they’ve presumably fed the info exclusively to the Post‘s Peter Marks, in hopes of getting a splashy news item. Other media have so far had to be content with an e-mail that went out April 26, saying merely that the new guy would be named on May 3.

But one reliable source with direct knowledge of the appointment—-and two with indirect knowledge—-confirm what theatrical Washington has been murmuring about since even before that e-mail went around: that Muse, currently the associate artistic director at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, is the man. Neither Muse nor Liane Jacobs, the Studio Theatre’s director of communications, immediately responded to requests for comment.

Muse has drawn plaudits for shows he’s directed at Studio—-among them the wrenching murder drama Frozen, the lively comedy The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, and most recently the Neil LaBute scorcher Reasons to be Pretty. For the Shakespeare Theatre, he’s staged classics like Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar; previously announced commitments elsewhere include a production of Peter Shaffer‘s Amadeus planned for Round House Theatre in 2011.

Other candidates said to have been included on the Studio shortlist: director Pam MacKinnon, whose production of Clybourne Park earned hosannas at Playwrights Horizons in March, and the D.C.-based actor Ed Gero.