2011 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ANNOUNCED

Chair and Board member Simon Westcott is delighted to appoint Marion Potts as the Artistic Director and CEO of Malthouse Theatre commencing full time from 2011.

Marion Potts is one of Australia’s most outstanding theatre practitioners. She has worked with many of the country’s finest theatre companies and is currently Bell Shakespeare’s Associate Artistic Director and Artistic Director of its development arm, Mind’s Eye.

At the notice of her appointment, Marion said “I am a longstanding fan of Malthouse Theatre and have admired Michael’s ability to carve out a place of audacity and true artistic daring. My own work has always been driven by the high aspirations I have for Australian artists and their ability to wrestle with big and dangerous ideas – typically with curiosity, irreverence and invention. Work undertaken at Malthouse will continue to be part of our collective quest to identify who we are and what we value. The chance to lead such an important company, to create work that can have a real impact on our city, our region and our culture as a whole is a both a joy and an enormous privilege.”

Michael Kantor said “I am thrilled with the appointment of Marion to steer the good ship Malthouse into new and exciting waters. She is an artist whose directorial work I have long admired as she intrinsically understands and expertly manages the broad collaboration of artistic forces that come together to make the stage sparkle with ideas, wit and charm. She has long championed new work and in particular new writing and new forms, and at the same time has a rigorous and broad reaching appreciation of the classic texts that make up our shared theatrical histories.”

Marion will relocate to Melbourne toward the end of 2010, continuing her work with Bell Shakespeare until then while developing her program for Malthouse Theatre’s Season One, 2011, to be launched in November 2010.

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