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Griffin Theatre Company Chair Michael Bradley has announced that Artistic Director Nick Marchand is stepping down as Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company, after three and a half years in the role.

Bradley said “Nick’s tenure at Griffin has seen the company enjoy an unprecedented period of critical success and audience growth. Nick’s focus on developing Griffin’s reach beyond our home at the SBW Stables Theatre to embrace co-productions with the other major Sydney theatre companies and a range of interstate and regional companies has greatly enhanced our company’s reputation and standing and worked to the benefit of Australian theatre and particularly new Australian writing.”

It has been a hard decision to step down, according to Marchand. “That said, my hope was to open up playwriting and directorial diversity at the Company, and in four seasons we’ve presented an amazing amount of new writing, with 37 new works from 33 different playwrights and 25 different directors. Even for a theatre priding itself on offering new opportunities, it is an incredibly satisfying result for the team.”

As Griffin celebrates its 30th anniversary at the Stables Theatre, it has been a period of real growth. Over the last three and a half years, Griffin has worked with NIDA to create a first-of-its-kind Affiliate Directors’ Residency, develop a series of free community performances, co-publish new plays, grow its Playwrights’ Residency and extend an Ambassadors’ program of free performances to 100 students across New South Wales. In addition, Griffin Independent – a recently developed program of new international writing - has introduced 9 emerging female directors, many of whom are already now working at companies including Company B Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company and Red Stitch.

And more developments are in the offing. Griffin is shortly due to close the doors of its iconic home venue, the SBW Stables Theatre, for newly-funded renovations. While work takes place, Griffin will present the Australian premiere of Anthony Weigh’s Like a Fishbone in a co-production with Sydney Theatre Company at the Wharf 1 Theatre.

“Working with our Chair Michael Bradley and Nathan Bennett, one of the most dynamic General Managers of his generation, we have been fortunate to lead the Company at a time of extraordinary development,” Marchand said. “In addition to the $750,000 raised over the last six months to renovate the SBW Stables Theatre, since 2007, Griffin has secured an unprecedented 95% increase in federal triennial funding and raised over three-quarters of a million dollars in sponsorship revenue. We hope this will provide a strong and steady foundation for one of Australia’s great cultural institutions.”

Last year, Marchand’s production of Sue Smith’s Strange Attractor became the highest grossing production in Griffin’s 2009 calendar, gathering a great critical response, garnering three nominations at the Sydney Theatre Awards and transferring to Riverside Theatres Parramatta. Griffin’s current production of Tom Holloway’s Love Me Tender (a co-production with Company B Belvoir and Perth’s Thin Ice) is playing to sold-out houses in Sydney after an initial season at Perth International Arts Festival.

Bradley said that “Nick has worked with great energy and passion to achieve Griffin’s aims, and his signal achievements such as launching our capital works campaign and raising $750,000 for the renovation of the theatre should not overshadow his constant effort to lay the foundations for Griffin’s future success. We will miss his generous spirit, but he has set us up brilliantly for the next chapter of Griffin’s evolution.”

Marchand’s career has long been associated with new writing and his time at Griffin caps 10 years in key development roles. After running Tropnest Screenwriters’ Centre at Fox Studios Australia (introducing the Sundance Festival winning feature film Animal Kingdom), he was co-curator of the Wharf 2 Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company, working with director Ben Winspear to introduce emerging playwrights such as Brendan Cowell, Ben Ellis, Louise Fox and Jane Bodie to the main-stage. Programming four seasons as Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company, he has overseen the Company’s resurgence as a national leader in new writing – working with many of the major companies to present work in Brisbane, Perth, Hobart, Canberra, Melbourne and across regional Australia. Marchand is leaving Griffin to take up “an exciting new opportunity”, to be announced in the near future.

“I believe Griffin has made new writing an exciting proposition for audiences, once more. In the last decade we have seen a wave of extraordinary writers emerge from around the country. What has united them is a common desire to find new ways of exciting and stimulating audiences. Here, they have found a home to tell their stories. Thank you to Griffin - not to mention its tireless staff and Board - for making it an incredible three and a half years.”

It is anticipated Marchand will co-curate the 2011 season with the incoming Artistic Director, to be appointed by the middle of the year. The open recruitment process is anticipated to take up to three months.