Griffin Studio is our esteemed artist development and education program—a year-long creative lab for early career playwrights. Each year our Studio artists develop one or more projects with support from Griffin’s Artistic team, while undertaking workshops on aspects of playwriting and theatremaking. Griffin Studio provides artists with the time and resources to create work that can shape the nation.
In the program’s fifteen-year-long history, Griffin Studio has engaged 40+ artists and has led to 19 professional productions including City of Gold, Orange Thrower and Whitefella Yella Tree, with alumni including Kate Mulvany, Michelle Lim Davidson, Nathan Harrison and Tessa Leong.
Griffin’s Studio artists for 2026 are:
Erica J Brennan
Erica J Brennan is an almost award-winning writer, director and physical theatre performer living on Gadigal Land. She is a proud Gamillaroi woman and grew up half-wild in the Blue Mountains on the beautiful country of the Gundengurra and Dharug. Most recently, she completed a dramaturgy placement with Australian Plays Transform at the National Theatre of Parramatta, immersed in the poetry and pragmatics of shaping new writing.
Michael Louis Kennedy
Michael Louis Kennedy is an independent artist, playwright and author based in Sydney, Australia. Recent works include The Balloon Dog Bites (Old Fitz, Sydney & Melbourne Fringe 2025; and Shoreditch Playhouse, London 2025), All The Fraudulent Horse Girls (Old Fitz, Sydney 2024; Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe 2024; Seven Dials Theatre, London 2024; The Blue Room, Perth; Melbourne Fringe 2023; and the Glory, London 2022); Acqua Profonda (Bondi Festival 2022) and All That Glitters Is Not Mould (NIDA 2022).
Grace Malouf
Grace Malouf is an AACTA-nominated screenwriter, trained playwright and entertainment lawyer (under duress) who writes twisted, darkly funny stories about agency, control and collapse. She holds an MFA in Writing for Performance from NIDA, undergraduate degrees in Economics and Law (Hons) from the University of Queensland with exchange stints in Paris, Seoul and Dublin and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law.
Since its inception in 2011, the Griffin Studio has seen over 40 exceptional artists move through the program. Meet them all here.
If you’re interested in supporting emerging writers, consider making a donation to Griffin Studio! You’ll directly support our annual cohort of early career playwrights over the course of their year-long residency.
We’re very proud that our former Studio artists have worked at every major theatre in Australia, demonstrating the important contribution our Studio donors make to not only Griffin, but the wider arts community.
To find out more, or to arrange a meeting to discuss Griffin Studio, please contact our Head of Development Jake Shavikin on (02) 8960 7799 or [email protected].
If you’re passionate about the process of creating new Australian work, consider supporting Griffin Studio Workshop.
