20.03.25
Dear Grif-friend,
2025 has well and truly kicked off as we have just closed our season of Nucleus by Alana Valentine at Seymour Centre and IMMEDIATELY swung into developing a whole bunch of new Australian works. Just this week, I’ve gotten to hear readings of brand new plays by the brilliant writers Josipa Draisma, Happy Feraren, Jorjia Gillis, and Jacob Parker. And holy heck it has been so thrilling hearing all the new works being developed at Griffin. At a time when it feels like there are so many pressing issues, it’s thrilling to see new works being that engage with the nuanced political climate we are sitting in. From a First Nations play about a Mums’ Club with an antagonist called “**** Mum” (censored word starts with a C 🙈), to a monologue from a Potts Point twink with American Psycho vibes, I think the Griffin creative development team has some amazing plays on our hands and what we need to remedy the issues of today!
In addition to new plays, we also have developments of works programmed later in 2025 (I’m talking about creative developments so much because I’m the creative development girly who runs our creative developments; but also new work is exciting, and you should be excited!). We’re gearing up for a final table read of Koreaboo by Michelle Lim Davidson to trial out some K-pop before we get in the rehearsal room. We knew the nudity aspect of Naturism by Ang Collins would need to be delicately fleshed out. So we have a big nude development coming up where we will take our cast on a carefully curated journey from performing clothed to performing unclothed.
The state of playwriting at Griffin Theatre Company is absolutely flourishing. Still, if you wanted to know about the state of playwriting in Australia, then Leah Purcell may be better positioned to speak on that. Luckily for you, she’s going to! At the 2025 Griffin Award & Keynote on Wednesday 21 May in partnership with Sydney Writers’ Festival. The Griffin Award Keynote last year by Angus Cerini was such a special event that really made me think about writing for performance in new and exciting ways, and I’m sure what Leah has in store will be equally as engaging and eye-opening about our industry and what it means to be a writer.
I was also lucky enough to speak at The Old Fitz Theatre’s “Act 2” Launch, which included our first Griffin Lookout show of the year, SISTREN by Iolanthe. I am so flipping pumped for this show and what Io and Janet Anderson have in store for you. It is both a serious conversation about identity and marginalisation as well as some serious fun! With the fabulous team at Green Door Theatre Company producing this work and it being directed by the beloved Ian Michael, I would buy a ticket to this one as soon as you can because tickets are selling like hotcakes.
Anyway, I will get back to creatively developing some creative developments! I can’t wait to see you all at Belvoir St Theatre for Koreaboo.
Sending love,
Cassie
Associate Producer
