12.01.23
Dear Grif-friend,
Hello! My name is Leila Enright, and I am writing to you as the new Senior Producer at Griffin. I started late last year along with the exemplary Khym Scott, our new General Manager, and the incredible Andrea James taking up the role of Associate Artistic Director. I’ve been very lucky to come in with such a cohort. I have been so warmly welcomed into the fold—can confirm for those on the outside that the staff here are every bit as joyous, warm and interesting as the shows they produce. My job here is to produce each Main Season work and I’m also supporting the in-house dramaturgy at Griffin alongside Declan (Artistic Director) and Julian Larnach (Acting Literary Manager)—which I could not be happier about.
It’s been a rollicking start to the year. Sydney has finally seen some sunshine, Season 15 of Drag Race is out and Greta Thunberg has expanded her activism to the likes of Andrew Tate. Also in January, Griffin received a whopping eight Sydney Theatre Award nominations for Merlynn Tong’s Golden Blood (黄金血液) and Dylan Van Den Berg’s Whitefella Yella Tree (don’t want to brag—but how cool!). Crucially, I am sure we can all feel Sydney prepping its outfits and pouring its vodka soda in preparation for WorldPride 2023 that is running across February and March this year, which will of course be here in a heartbeat.
Speaking of WorldPride, it feels somewhat fated that the first show that I will produce for Griffin is Nicholas Brown’s psychedelic, sexy, wordplay-on-steroids epic work Sex Magick. I have had the privilege of working on and being around this work for about five years through various other jobs, and it is a real-life joy ride to be producing its world (Pride) debut. This work will be a wild and funny ride, and one of the biggest we’ve ever done at Griffin. How do you fit a queer-ass spectacle into a tiny kite-shaped theatre? Can we do it?! Is it even possible?! Book to find out! I would strongly recommend getting this in your diary before the incredible program that the WorldPride team has put together has your diary in a spin—you just can’t miss a show that will be the talk of the town.
The Griffin team has also been working hard on building our delicious pipeline of works. The Griffin Award closed in January and we received a record number of entries at 144! We’re in reading mode, so sit tight and we will get you updates later down the track. We have also welcomed our 2023 Griffin Studio artists into the building: Emma Maye Gibson will develop a new semi-autobiographical play; Michelle Lim Davidson will use her Studio year to develop the story, structure and full draft of her second play; and Randa Sayed will further develop a comic solo drama.
Lastly—do make sure you get your 2023 subscription locked in with us! I know you’ll end up wanting to see heaps of shows here this year anyway, so book in bulk now to grab yourself a New Year saving.
I hope you all have a blissful start to the year, enjoy the warm weather, read a good book and hang out with the people you love. I’ll be trying to do the same, and prepping for WorldPride by reading Travis Alabanza’s incredible book None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary and listening to my favourite show tunes on repeat.
See you at Sex(y) Magick soon,
Leila x
Leila Enright
Senior Producer
