Outgoing Sydney Theatre Company artistic director Kip Williams has said his 13 years with the company had been ‘the honour of a lifetime’.Outgoing Sydney Theatre Company artistic director Kip Williams has said his 13 years with the company had been ‘the honour of a lifetime’.
A brand-new work by Williams will be among the shows in next year’s STC program, to be announced in September. The STC chair, Ann Johnson, called Williams “an exceptional leader” and said he had headed “one of the most critically acclaimed and creatively vibrant periods of the company’s history”.“Kip has put great focus on Australian writing, championing new voices, and has realised his goal of gender parity for women writers and directors across every season,” Johnson said.
“He has mentored and nurtured the careers of some of our most exciting writers, directors, designers, performers and technicians, and theWilliams joined STC as assistant director in 2011, before being appointed associate director by the then artistic directors, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, in 2012. He became resident director in 2013 and artistic director in 2016.
Over eight years, the company said, Williams programmed 89 productions, two-thirds of which were original Australian works or adaptations by Australian writers. Williams also directed 24 STC productions, including the seven-hour-long The Harp in the South Part One and Part Two starring Kate Mulvany, and Suddenly Last Summer, for which he won a Helpmann award for best director.