20.12.21
I last wrote to you on Day 9 as Griffin’s new Executive Director. It’s now Day 303. Needless to say, a chunk of that time was in lockdown. But despite the crappy year many of us have had, I am finishing the year optimistic and proud.
In the past 72 days, since Sydney theatres reopened again, Griffin has staged two sell-out shows–Kendall Feaver’s Wherever She Wanders and Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie. We also held general auditions (a brilliant opportunity for Griffin’s artistic team to see a bunch of fresh talent) and presented our last Griffin Scratch for the year with a stellar line-up of artists (Raveena Grover, Tasnim Hossain, Gary Paramanathan, Taofia Pelesasa, Peter Polites and Jeremy Santos). We had table reads of plays by shortlisted playwrights for the Griffin Award, as well as this year’s winner Megan Wilding. We performed excerpts of new work by our 2021 Griffin Studio Artists Phoebe Grainer, Nathan Harrison, Diana Popovska and Dylan Van Den Berg and welcomed back our Griffin Ambassadors for two final shows for the year as well as a compelling Q&A with Lee Lewis, Suzie Miller and Sheridan Harbridge. We held table reads for two shows in our 2022 season, undertook creative developments for another three new works (including one in Melbourne) and launched our 2022 season… that’s a lot in just 10 weeks!
Life is here to be juiced and squeezed and bitten into (perhaps I’m manifesting our first Mainstage show in 2022 Orange Thrower). And while I’m sure we were all hoping for a little more stability next year, if the past two years have taught us anything, it’s to use every opportunity that comes because we don’t know what’s ahead.
I am hopeful about 2022. For starters, we have a brilliant season lined up–special thanks to Alphabet for designing a beautiful brochure, and Brett Boardman for capturing and imagining what happens on our stage. For the first time ever (I believe!) we’ll be bringing you 6 Mainstage productions to the stage here at the SBW Stables Theatre. That’s 6 plays, 6 stories and even more actors & creatives that get to call our little theatre on the hill home next year.
On top of that we have two new fantastic Lookout shows (from Jessica Bellamy and Mel Ree), a new group of Griffin Ambassadors, our 2022 Griffin Award, 9 creative developments in the works, three new Studio Artists and more!
And, to cap that all off, we kick off our 2022 Season in January with two shows as part of Sydney Festival – a return season of Elias Jamieson Brown’s Green Park, and Hilary Bell’s Window, Cricket Bat presented in partnership with the Australian Design Centre.
If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to our 2022 Season so you can get the cheapest tickets possible with all the benefits too. And, if you subscribe before midnight on Christmas Eve, you’ll automatically go in the draw to win our Super Big Win! Did I mention that Gift Certificates make great presents too?
It’s going to be a big year of supporting Australian storytelling, artists and our community in 2022 and we will be doing all we can to keep you and our audiences safe and our little theatre open. Stay up-to-date with our COVID-Safe Plan on our website, or call our friendly box office is you have questions. Please note we are closed from 3pm, 24 December and re-open 4 January, 2022.
From your Griff-family, we wish you a peaceful and loving festive season. Kindness and care seem to be top of mind for me right now. And staying connected, to ourselves and each other. So thank you for staying connected to us–and continuing to support new Australian stories. Stay safe and happy and well.
Much Love,
Julieanne Campbell
Executive Director
