“Among other ideals, my work seeks to frame imaginative moments of transience and understanding for the actor and the audience to share. From fantasy to classics to modern realism, my goal is to distill the essence of now, in light of the universal or Eternal. This challenge demands constant focus on process, while learning and devising in areas of theater arts both new and traditional.
Consider: “mono no aware” - from the Japanese, meaning something like: pathos for things of transience. A gentle sadness, sensitivity, or awareness for essential moments of humanity. ”
After earning a BA in Theater from Bates College, Griff first directed at Wiscasset High School in 1983, and began teaching children's theater, mythology, speech, acting, technical theater, film and English until 2006. With a resume of more than sixty plays under his belt at Wiscasset, many original scripts and several award winning one act plays, he was invited to create a theater program at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, Maine.
Having recently founded Heartwood Regional Theater Company, he began a unique collaboration with Lincoln Academy, teaching acting and media, leading Lincoln's students to eleven State One Act Festivals, and leveraging Heartwood resources to provide comprehensive performing opportunities for students.
Following his original production of Zeno's Arrow at Lincoln County Community Theater in 1998, and three years of directing and designing (Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, Peter Pan, The Little Prince, Face on the Barroom Floor and Secret Garden) at The Chocolate Church in Bath, Maine, he envisioned and founded Heartwood Regional Theater Company in the fall of 2003.
As Artistic Director, working with adults, and students from local and professional backgrounds, Griff has designed and directed more than 80 productions, while developing youth education opportunities including productions, visiting artists, and residencies for Midcoast schools. Heartwood's 16th annual summer camp brings artist/teachers together with students.
Heartwood stages theater from across the canon, as well as original works devised by the company.
Titles include: Molly Sweeney, Les Miserables, Susannah, Antigone, Blood Wedding, Man of LaMancha, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, All My Sons, Gilgamesh, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Crucible, Romeo and Juliet, Glass Menagerie, An Enemy of the People, Once on this Island, A Little Night Music, Little Women, Beauty and the Beast, Metamorphoses, Sunday in the Park with George, Pinocchio, Beowulf, As It Is In Heaven, See How They Run, The House of Bernarda Alba, Godspell, Four Quartets, Ghostwriter, Macbeth, The Legend of Jim Cullen, Fiddler on the Roof, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Jekyl and Hyde, The Neverending Story, Les Miserables, Cyrano De Bergerac, One Man Two Guvnors, Our Town, The Tempest, These Shining Lives, Merry Christmas George Bailey, Charlotte's Web, Eurydice, Into the Woods, West Side Story, Wiley and the Hairy Man, Blood Wedding, Bloomsday, Down Along the Cove, and The Secret Garden. 2018-2019 Season includes The Snow Maiden, Medea, Life is a Dream and Big River.
