Sam Strong is an Australian theatre director and arts leader; he was the artistic director of Queensland Theatre Company (2015–2019) and of

Griffin Theatre Company Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new works, based in Sydney. Founded in 1979, it is the resident theatre company at the Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. the artistic director is Declan Greene. Artistic directors ...

(2010–2013). He has also been Chair of

Circa Circa is a Latin word meaning "around, approximately". Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear company * Circa (contempora ...

and the Associate Artistic Director of

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...

Personal life

Strong was born in

Nowra, New South Wales Nowra () is a city in the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated po ...

and is the son of late Australian businessman James Strong. Strong was Dux of

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

and graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

with a BA(Hons) LLB(Hons) and the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus ...

with a Graduate Diploma of Dramatic Art (Directing). He was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria and practised as a solicitor at Freehills.

Career

From 2006 to 2008, Strong was the dramaturg in residence at

Red Stitch Actors Theatre Red Stitch Actors Theatre is an ensemble theatre company based in Melbourne, Australia. Established in 2001 and with its first season in 2002, Red Stitch has presented over 100 contemporary plays. These include works from international playwri ...

, where he co-founded the Red Stitch Writers residency and directed the Green Room Award-winning ''Red Sky Morning''. From 2008 to 2010, he was Literary Associate at Belvoir, where he dramarturged the hit

Brendan Cowell Brendan Cowell is an Australian actor and writer. He is known for his lead role in 2024 television series ''Plum'' that he created, based on his 2021 novel of the same name. Early life and education Brendan Cowell was born in Sydney and grew u ...

play ''Ruben Guthrie''. From 2010 to 2013, Strong was artistic director of

, where he directed successful revivals of contemporary Australian classics, tripled subscribers, and directed the highest selling show in the company's history (''The Boys''). From 2013 to 2015, Strong was the associate artistic director of

, where he directed the theatrical debuts of visual artist Callum Morton and the group

Working Dog Productions Working Dog Productions (originally Frontline Television Productions Pty. Ltd.) is a film and television production company based in Melbourne, Australia. It was formed in 1993 by actors Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Tom Gleisner, a ...

. Strong has directed many of Australia's leading actors including Justine Clarke, Lucy Durack,

Colin Friels Colin Friels (born 25 September 1952) is an Australian actor of theatre, TV, film and presenter. Early life Friels was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland.Interview with Colin Friels, ''George Negus Tonight'' (ABC Television), 26 August 200 ...

, Noni Hazlehurst, Asher Keddie,

Lachy Hulme Lachy Hulme (born 1 April 1971) is an Australian actor and screenwriter. He has written several films and has appeared in a number of Australian and US film and television productions. Early life Hulme was born in Melbourne, Victoria where he h ...

Robyn Nevin Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. F ...

, Josh McConville, Luke Mullins,

Pamela Rabe Pamela Rabe (born Pamela June Koropatnick; 30 April 1959) is a Canadian–Australian actress and theatre director. A graduate of the Playhouse Acting School in Vancouver, Rabe is best known for her appearances in the Australian films '' Sirens ...

, Kat Stewart,

Erik Thomson Erik Thomson is a Scottish-born New Zealand-Australian actor. He is known for playing Hades in the television series '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', '' Xena Warrior Princess'' and '' Young Hercules'', Dr. Mitch Stevens in '' All Saints' ...

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is a British actor. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has been recognised as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. Born in Colonia ...

, and

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in ' ...

. Strong commenced as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of Queensland Theatre Company in November 2015 and was appointed chair of contemporary circus company,

in April 2015. Strong launched his first season as artistic director on 12 September 2016 with a rebranding of the company to Queensland Theatre (QT). Strong also announced nine commitments for his 2017 season that will deliver on the company's vision to lead the nation from Queensland, including opening a world premiere production in Cairns, performing in 15 interstate venues, gender parity of writers and directors and one third diverse casting. Strong's first season at Queensland Theatre (2017) achieved the largest box office in the company's history. In the same year, Strong became only the second director in the history of the awards to have two productions nominated for Best Play in the one year at the Helpmann Awards. Strong announced his departure from QT in March 2019, stating that he was relocating to Melbourne to support his wife's career"Queensland Theatre Boss Sam Strong Announces His Not-So Imminent Departure"
by Phil Brown, ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'', 28 March 2019 Highlights of Strong's four years at Queensland Theatre include the renovation of the Bille Brown Theatre, achieving subscriber growth that made the company the fastest growing in Australia, directing the highest selling new Australian play in the company's history, and securing

RACQ The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited (RACQ) is a mutual organisation and Queensland's largest club (by membership), providing services including roadside assistance, insurance, banking and travel to its approximately 1.7 million m ...

as an inaugural principal partner. Strong's time at Queensland Theatre was also marked by a focus on new plays (leading the company to be described as the "National home of new stories", and creating the next generation of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

stories such as My Name is Jimi and City of Gold. Strong's fourth season 2020 will include him directing the stage premiere of Trent Dalton’s novel Boy Swallows Universe. In September 2019 it was announced that Lee Lewis (who succeeded Strong at

Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

) would be the next Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre.

Productions

2008 * ''Red Sky Morning'' by Tom Holloway (Red Stitch Actors Theatre) * ''Shedding'' by Melissa Bubnic (La Mama) 2009 * ''Faces in the Crowd'' by Leo Butler (Red Stitch Actors Theatre) * ''Thom Pain (based on nothing)'' by

Will Eno Will Eno (born 1965) is an American playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. His play, '' Thom Pain (based on nothing)'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2005. His play '' The Realistic Joneses'' appeared on Broadway in 2014, whe ...

(B Sharp) * ''Tender'' by Nicki Bloom taged Reading(Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''The Sea Project'' by Elise Hurst taged Reading(Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''Red Sky Morning'' by Tom Holloway (Red Stitch Actors Theatre return season) 2010 * ''Madagascar'' by J.T. Rogers (Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''The Power of Yes'' by David Hare (Belvoir St Theatre) * ''Red Sky Morning'' by Tom Holloway (Red Stitch Actors Theatre national tour) 2011 * '' And No More Shall We Part'' by Tom Holloway (Griffin Theatre Company) * ''Speaking in Tongues'' by Andrew Bovell (Griffin Theatre Company) 2012 * ''

Between Two Waves ''Between Two Waves'' is a play by Australian playwright Ian Meadows. It was first produced by Griffin Theatre Company in 2012. Plot Daniel – a climatologist and advisor to the government – loses a lifetime of research in a flood. When F ...

'' by Ian Meadows (Griffin Theatre Company) * ''

Les Liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu on March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise Isabelle de Merteu ...

'' by

Christopher Hampton Sir Christopher James Hampton (born 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play Les Liaisons Dangereuses (play), ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' based on the Les Liaisons da ...

(Sydney Theatre Company) * ''The Boys'' by Gordon Graham (Griffin Theatre Company/Sydney Festival) 2013 * '' Other Desert Cities'' by Jon Robin Baitz (Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

'' by

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

(Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''The Floating World'' by John Romeril (Griffin Theatre Company) 2014 * ''

Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...

'' by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

* ''The Speechmaker'' by

Santo Cilauro Santo Luigi Cilauro (born 25 November 1961) is an Australian comedian, television and feature film producer, screenwriter, actor, author and cameraman who is also a co-founder of ''The D-Generation''. Known as the weatherman in ''Frontline (Au ...

Tom Gleisner Thomas Edmund Gleisner (born 24 October 1962) is an Australian comedian and producer. Gleisner co-founded production company Working Dog Productions and currently hosts Network 10's ''Have You Been Paying Attention?''. Early life and educati ...

Rob Sitch Robert Ian Sitch (born 17 March 1962) is an Australian filmmaker, actor and comedian. He directed and co-wrote the comedy films '' The Castle'' (1997) and ''The Dish'' (2000); the former of which is often considered one of the greatest Australia ...

(Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''The Sublime'' by

(Melbourne Theatre Company) 2015 * '' Masquerade'' by Kate Mulvany (

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney, that runs for three weeks every January since it was established in 1977. The festival program features over 100 events from local and international artists and inclu ...

/Griffin Theatre Company/ State Theatre Company of South Australia/

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

) * ''

The Weir ''The Weir'' is a play written by Conor McPherson in 1997. It was first produced at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London, England, on 4 July 1997. It opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on 1 April 1999. As well as several oth ...

'' by

Conor McPherson Conor McPherson (born 6 August 1971) is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director of stage and film. In recognition of his contribution to world theatre, McPherson was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature in June 2013 by University C ...

(Melbourne Theatre Company) * '' Endgame'' by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

(Melbourne Theatre Company) 2016 * '' Jasper Jones'' based on the novel by Craig Silvey, adapted by Kate Mulvany (Melbourne Theatre Company) * ''

Double Indemnity ''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's Double Indemnity (novel), novel of the same na ...

'' by

Tom Holloway Tom Holloway is an Australian playwright, based in Melbourne . Holloway's plays have been performed across Australia and internationally, including ''Beyond the Neck'' at Belvoir St Theatre (2007), ''Red Sky Morning'' at Red Stitch Actors Theatr ...

, adapted from the book by James M Cain (Melbourne Theatre Company) 2017 *''

Noises Off ''Noises Off'' is a 1982 farce by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of '' The Two of Us'', a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funni ...

!'' by

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen (play), Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy (play), Democracy''. Frayn's novel ...

(Queensland Theatre/Melbourne Theatre Company) *''Once in Royal David's City'' by Michael Gow (Queensland Theatre/Black Swan State Theatre Company) 2018 *''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

( Queensland Theatre) with music by

Tim Finn Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz. Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songw ...

*'' Jasper Jones'' based on the novel by Craig Silvey, adapted by Kate Mulvany (Queensland Theatre restaging the Melbourne Theatre Company production) * ''Nearer the Gods'' by

David Williamson David Keith Williamson (born 1942) is an Australian playwright, who has also written screenplays and teleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic drama '' Don's Party'', and other well-known plays include '' The Clu ...

(Queensland Theatre) 2019 * ''Hydra'' by Sue Smith (Queensland Theatre/ State Theatre Company South Australia) * '' Storm Boy'' by Colin Thiele, adapted for the stage by Tom Holloway (Queensland Theatre/Melbourne Theatre Company)

Awards

* Winner Best Director

Sydney Theatre Awards The Sydney Theatre Awards are annual awards to recognise the strength, quality and diversity of professional theatre in Sydney, Australia. They were established in 2005 by a group of major Sydney theatre critics. The awards recognise mainstage and ...

2013 (''The Floating World'') * Nominated for Best Director Green Room Awards 2014 (''The Sublime'') * Nominated for Best Production Sydney Theatre Awards 2013 (''The Floating World'') * Nominated for Best Director Sydney Theatre Awards 2012 (''The Boys'') * Nominated for Best Production Sydney Theatre Awards 2012 (''The Boys'') * Nominated for Best Production Sydney Theatre Awards 2012 (''Les Liaisons dangereuses'') * Nominated for Best Play Helpmann Awards 2012 (''The Boys'') * Nominated for Best Director Helpmann Awards 2012 (''The Boys'') * Nominated for Best Director Sydney Theatre Awards 2010 (''The Power of Yes'') * Nominated for Best Director Greenroom Awards 2009 (''Red Sky Morning'') * Nominated for Best Play Helpmann Awards 2017 (''Once in Royal David's City)'' * Nominated for Best Play Helpmann Awards 2017 (''Jasper Jones)'' * Nominated for Best Production Green Room Awards 2017 (''Jasper Jones'') *Nominated for Best Director Green Room Awards 2017 (''Jasper Jones)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Sam Australian theatre directors Living people People educated at Geelong Grammar School People from Nowra University of Melbourne alumni Year of birth missing (living people) People from the South Coast (New South Wales)

Personal life

Career

Productions

Awards

Further reading

References