Kean To Depart With Final Curtain Call

By Marcus Braid on October 16, 2014 in News

Leland Kean has announced his intention to resign as Artistic Director of the Rock Surfers Theatre Company, bringing closure to a ten-year reign that has seen him foster a generation of up-and-coming Australian acting talent.

Mr Kean’s departure will coincide with the final work of the 2015 season, The Way Things Work, which he is directing.

“When I took over the company we had a small theatre in a pub in the back of Woolloomooloo, receiving a small amount of support through funding, but mostly through our own passion,” Mr Kean said.

“We were paid $50 a week by the company and worked in the box office to make ends meet, and the artists working in the venue often received nothing for their time.”

Mr Kean presided over the Rock Surfers’ venue change from the Old Fitzroy Hotel to its current location at Bondi Pavilion.

“I leave the company now with established local, state and federal funding, in one of Sydney’s most iconic locations, and one of my proudest achievements is that the company employees and artists are now paid wages and fees for their work,” Mr Kean said.

Since graduating from the NIDA directors’ course in 1997, Mr Kean has dedicated his career to the development and production of new Australian writing and contemporary performance practice.

Nell Schofield, chair of the Rock Surfers’ board, paid tribute to Mr Kean’s role in making the theatre company iconic.

“Keano is a legend in Sydney’s theatre circles and has made Rock Surfers a beacon for new independent theatre practitioners,” he said.