Playwrights Residency
Griffin offers key opportunities for emerging playwrights through its ground-breaking PLAYWRIGHTS' RESIDENCY.
Over 12 months, Griffin invites four playwrights the chance to build a lasting, working relationship with Griffin Theatre Company – and provides collaborating artists to work with towards production.
Griffin's Playwrights' Residency has been responsible for introducing playwrights such as Tommy Murphy and Caleb Lewis to mainstream audiences hungry for new work and new voices. The former resident playwrights' work included the award-winning Holding the Man, Strangers in Between and Nailed.
Griffin's Playwright Residency is a valued source of play development and plays a vital part in helping a new generation of playwrights find their voice.
In addition to financial assistance, workshops and professional development, all four playwrights feature and participate directly in Griffin's annual program, with Seasons, four short ten-minute plays presented throughout 2008, and a further four full-length plays presented as public readings.
NICKI BLOOM
Nicki Bloom is a poet, playwright and novelist. Her play Tender had its debut season, produced by nowyesnow, as part of Belvoir's 2007 B-Sharp season. Griffin will be remounting the production as part of its 2008 Subscription Season. Nicki's past awards include the 2006 Henry Lawson Prize for Prose, (Something Greater Than All of This); the 2006 Adrian Consett Stephen Memorial Prize for Playwriting (Tender) and the 2007 Inscription Chairman's Award for Best Play (Tender).
JONATHAN GAVIN
Jonathan Gavin is an actor and playwright. In 2004 he won the Philip Parsons Young Playwrights Award for his play A Moment On The Lips. It enjoyed two sell-out seasons in Sydney, one in Melbourne and another in Perth. Subsequently, the plays Suburban Epic and Special Occasions were commissioned by Company B Belvoir and Melbourne Theatre Company, respectively. In 2007, Tiger Country was produced by Maelstrom Productions as part of Griffin Stablemates.
SUE SMITH
Sue Smith is an experienced screenwriter and script editor. Her past credits include the feature film Peaches, and the SBS Independent miniseries RAN. Her series about the waterfront dispute, Bastard Boys, screened on ABC Television in 2007. Other credits include Temptation and The Road From Coorain and with John Alsop, an adaptation of My Brother Jack and Brides of Christ. Her first stage play, Thrall, was produced by Tamarama Rock Surfers at the Old Fitzroy Theatre in 2006.
RICK VIEDE
Rick studied the Journey Program at the Actors Centre in Sydney, as well as studying acting at UCLA and obtaining a BA from Monash University. His plays include The Moirai, Pegs, Roadkill and Whore. Both Whore and Pegs were developed through the Riverside Theatres' Breakout program. Rick studied the Journey Program at the Actors Centre, as well as studying acting at UCLA and Monash University. Rick's alter-ego is cabaret performer Glace Chase.
