Griffin Theatre Company Announces Michele Lee as Winner of 2025 Griffin Award
Griffin Theatre Company is thrilled to announce that Michele Lee has been awarded the 2025 Griffin Award for outstanding new Australian playwriting for her play, Snappy.
Bea’s in Melbourne. In a bar. There’s a stranger. Hot stranger. Younger than her. Bea gulps, f*ck it, approaches. Buy. Me. A. Drink. And he does. Snappy is a play about desire and big mistakes.
Thanks to the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, Michele was awarded a full play commission worth $17,700 at the Griffin Award Keynote event on Wednesday 21 May. In addition to the commission, the prize includes dedicated in-house development support from Griffin. Of the 136 entries, each entry was assessed by a panel of industry peers with the winner being selected by judges Vanessa Bates, Anthea Williams and Declan Greene. From this strong pool, three finalists were shortlisted: Chenturan Aran for The Suppostabys, Van Badham for Raven, and Lee for Snappy.
Held at Carriageworks and presented in partnership with the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Griffin Award & Keynote event is a celebration of bold new Australian playwriting. This year’s event featured a powerful keynote address from one of the nation’s most revered storytellers, Leah Purcell. A powerhouse of stage and screen, Purcell last performed at Griffin in 2007 and is known for starring in iconic works such as Box the Pony (Belvoir St Theatre), Black Chicks Talking (La Boite Theatre) and The Drover’s Wife (Belvoir Street Theatre). Her keynote address touched on her history of telling Australian stories, the driving forces that inspire her, and her hopes for a thriving ecosystem of First Nations arts practitioners.
Declan Greene, Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company, says, “Griffin-goers know Michele from her brilliant, ruthlessly intelligent play Rice – but Snappy presents a whole other side to her talent. It’s a funny, heart-aching story of mid-life disquiet and sexual transgressions. I’m thrilled that we get to go on this journey with Michele and Snappy – thanks to our friends at the Copyright Agency and Sydney Writers’ Festival”.
Michele Lee says, “Thank you to Griffin for backing diverse Australian voices, and to the judges for recognising Snappy at this early stage. I’m excited to develop it further, and grateful to be in the company of such brilliant writers. Let’s keep supporting bold stories and the artists who tell them”.
Michele is a multiple award-winning Hmong-Australian writer for stage, screen, audio and live art. Across her work, she aims to centre the stories of those historically on the margins – women, people of colour, poor people and working-class people, and people from her community, the Hmong.
Josephine Johnston, Copyright Agency CEO, adds, “Through our Cultural Fund, we’re proud to support Griffin Theatre Company and the Griffin Award – a vital launchpad for bold new Australian playwriting. Congratulations to this year’s winner Michele Lee for Snappy – we can’t wait to see this work come through its development and onto the stage”.
Thanks to the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, Michele was awarded a full play commission worth $17,700 at the Griffin Award Keynote event on Wednesday 21 May. In addition to the commission, the prize includes dedicated in-house development support from Griffin. Of the 136 entries, each entry was assessed by a panel of industry peers with the winner being selected by judges Vanessa Bates, Anthea Williams and Declan Greene. From this strong pool, three finalists were shortlisted: Chenturan Aran for The Suppostabys, Van Badham for Raven, and Lee for Snappy.
Held at Carriageworks and presented in partnership with the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Griffin Award & Keynote event is a celebration of bold new Australian playwriting. This year’s event featured a powerful keynote address from one of the nation’s most revered storytellers, Leah Purcell. A powerhouse of stage and screen, Purcell last performed at Griffin in 2007 and is known for starring in iconic works such as Box the Pony (Belvoir St Theatre), Black Chicks Talking (La Boite Theatre) and The Drover’s Wife (Belvoir Street Theatre). Her keynote address touched on her history of telling Australian stories, the driving forces that inspire her, and her hopes for a thriving ecosystem of First Nations arts practitioners.
Declan Greene, Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company, says, “Griffin-goers know Michele from her brilliant, ruthlessly intelligent play Rice – but Snappy presents a whole other side to her talent. It’s a funny, heart-aching story of mid-life disquiet and sexual transgressions. I’m thrilled that we get to go on this journey with Michele and Snappy – thanks to our friends at the Copyright Agency and Sydney Writers’ Festival”.
Michele Lee says, “Thank you to Griffin for backing diverse Australian voices, and to the judges for recognising Snappy at this early stage. I’m excited to develop it further, and grateful to be in the company of such brilliant writers. Let’s keep supporting bold stories and the artists who tell them”.
Michele is a multiple award-winning Hmong-Australian writer for stage, screen, audio and live art. Across her work, she aims to centre the stories of those historically on the margins – women, people of colour, poor people and working-class people, and people from her community, the Hmong.
Josephine Johnston, Copyright Agency CEO, adds, “Through our Cultural Fund, we’re proud to support Griffin Theatre Company and the Griffin Award – a vital launchpad for bold new Australian playwriting. Congratulations to this year’s winner Michele Lee for Snappy – we can’t wait to see this work come through its development and onto the stage”.