SEATTLE — Bernie Griffin, current managing director of the 5th Avenue Theatre will be retiring on July 19 after 23 years of leadership. The 5th Avenue Theatre produces Broadway-caliber, large musical theater performances.
“It really is an art form that takes us worlds away from the every day,” Griffin said. “It’s such a gift to have been able to be part of it.”
Griffin appreciates the many memories she’s made at 5th Avenue, including sitting in the audience for the preview of Hairspray in 2002, the first pre-Broadway show done in Seattle.
“I can go back to that time in the theater, and experiencing something that had never been experienced before because it was a brand new show,” Griffin said.
She’s proud that she was a part of the team that took care of the theater for years, and she credits her team for their help along the way.
Women have never held more than 23 percent of leadership positions in American nonprofit theater, so Griffin has been a trailblazer in the industry. To succeed, she says you need a passion for the work and great mentors.
“For my particular job, it had one foot in the business community and one foot in the artistic community, and that’s what I always loved about it,” Griffin said.
Griffin doesn’t know for sure what’s next, but she will be enjoying her retirement. She uses a thought Jane Fonda talked about on a podcast to explain her philosophy for the years ahead.
“She says it’s much like a play,” Griffin said. “A lot of time you have to get through and experience the third act to make sense of the first two.”
Single tickets for the 5th Avenue Theatre 2023/2024 season are on sale now. You can purchase tickets to upcoming offerings, like The Little Mermaid, White Christmas and Spring Awakening. The theater offers five-show subscriptions and special three-show Family Fun Series or Debut Series packages.
5th Avenue also offers accessible subscriptions to captioned, ASL interpreted and audio described performances, as well as offering two sensory inclusive performances.
New Day viewers can enter a giveaway for a free season subscription! Visit the 5th Avenue Theatre website to learn more and enter by Friday, July 14.
Sponsored by 5th Avenue Theatre.
Segment Producer Joseph Suttner. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.