08.12.22
Dear Grif-friend,
Hello! I’m Khym Scott, and I am thrilled to be writing to you as the new General Manager of Griffin. For those who missed the exciting news last week, there are a couple of us in sparkly new appointments—Andrea James moves into the position of Associate Artistic Director and Leila Enright joins us as Senior Producer. Griffin is often referred to as a place of firsts—for plays, artists, audiences. Griffin gave me my first professional job in theatre in what feels like a lifetime ago, and now I’m so delighted to be moving into this new role. I now have a desk! I’m such a keen bean that I even rocked up to the Stables a day earlier than my official first day by coming along to the 2023 Season Briefing—if you missed it, don’t worry! We’ve taken the liberty of putting together a recording of one of the day’s sessions with all the juicy sneak peeks and creative insights you could want, which you can watch right now.
I keep remembering with some horror that it’s already December and I am wildly unprepared. I think I’ve resigned myself to either going to a shopping centre after-hours on Christmas Eve, re-gifting things I’ve received from various opening nights or last-minute shopping online. Speaking of last-minute online gifts, if you’ve got a theatre lover in your life, why not head to the Griffin website and pick up a Gift Certificate for a 2023 subscription? I hear that giving experiences is great for those people who say they ‘don’t want anything’ or they ‘don’t know what they want’. Or better yet, plan some date nights and pick up one for yourself too! I’m already taking advantage of the benefits that our wonderful subscribers get—in particular discounted wine from our friends at P&V Merchants. Please note that the Griffin office is closed from 3pm, Friday 23 December and re-opens Monday 9 January 2023—so make sure to purchase your Gift Certificates before then!
My Spotify Wrapped doesn’t really change year to year because I only listen to 90s pop music, but I have been thinking about everything that’s happened in the past twelve months. This time last year I was in the middle of stage managing the Prima Facie return season at the Seymour Centre (post-Delta, pre-Omicron), and attending some readings of the Griffin Award finalists. And now ironically, I’m putting all the pieces in place for the Prima Facie tour to Melbourne Theatre Company in February, and entries for the Griffin Award 2023 close in just a few weeks.
While we may have already closed the doors to the Stables for 2022, we’re certainly keeping busy because we’re well into planning our first production for 2023—tickets for Nicholas Brown’s tantalisingly tantric Sex Magick have just gone on sale from this week (along with tickets for our first Griffin Lookout show of the year, UFO)! I have spent a lot of time in our theatre over the years and what I love about Griffin audiences is their willingness to be surprised by what they find at the top of the stairs. I can tell you one thing—Sex Magick is going to be B.I.G.
Next year is also the last year of making and seeing theatre in the SBW Stables Theatre as we know and love it before our renovations start, so we’re definitely going all out and pushing our beloved venue on the hill to its absolute limits. It’s going to be a huge year of Australian storytelling next year and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Until then, you’ll find me watching terrible/amazing Hallmark Christmas films and wishing for less ducking and weaving for us all in 2023. See you in the foyer next year!
Khym x
Khym Scott
General Manager
