In their first joint public interview since the crisis, Johnson, STC’s executive director Anne Dunn and artistic director Kip Williams, who is bowing out at the end of the year, outlined steps towards budget repair. All three said they had no inkling or prior notice of the protest.

Asked if its engagement with all parties could have been improved, Dunn said “lessons” had been learned and that St James Ethics Centre has been invited to lead internal conversations at the company to clarify its “purpose and values”.

“All of us need to be heard, and that’s true of our donor group, that’s true of our artists’ group,” Dunn said. “That’s true of our staff.”

As the new chair, Johnson said she would lead conversations with all donors, including those who were disaffected. STC has also disclosed that its 2025 program, the last for Williams, who will depart for national and international projects at year’s end, is set to be cut from this year’s full season of 15 plays to 12 or 13 shows.

“It will be a smaller program than the usual 15 or 16,” he said. “One of the things I’ve looked at recently is programming more musicals at STC, which isn’t something that has happened in the previous ten years so much given the kind of broad appeal and impact that they bring.”

Williams added: “I’m mindful at this point of time, given the current financial climate, that I’m thinking of works that can deliver great box office impact.”

STC is seeking new revenue sources and wants to increase the use of the Roslyn Packer Theatre, which it staffs and manages. It has just introduced Sunday performances for the first time in several years.

Dunn revealed that the company will sink back into deficit in 2023 after recording a small surplus the previous year, due mainly to the end of COVID funding and cost-of-living increases, including a 44 per cent jump in its energy bill.

The prospect is a setback to the company coming so soon after STC battled through three years of COVID disruptions and a period of exile from its Walsh Bay home, precipitating one of its deepest financial winters in the company’s 46-year history.

Its return to a position of financial precariousness is a source of private frustration for some members of the STC board, which is set to lose Gretel Packer at the next annual general meeting in May, at the end of her two-term tenure. She will stay on as a foundation director.

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Dunn said the extent of any donor exodus would not be felt until the 2024 financial statements and would be partially mitigated by the company’s strong box office performance this year. STC is currently riding a box office high, meeting ticket sales targets for its 2024 season in February after first going on sale in September.

The company has made a profit on RBG’s Sydney Opera House season, Into the Shimmering World, currently playing at the Wharf, and Dictionary of Lost Words’ Melbourne season.

Ticket sales for Weaving’s The President, opening on Wednesday, will likely make budget this weekend. However, government grants and philanthropy mostly underwrite its operational costs.

Dunn said it was “too early to say where we are with philanthropy for the year, but we, of course, continue to engage with donors and continue to look to that space as well as our self-generated revenues through new hires and food and beverage and so on”.

The company was continuing a “path of really careful cost control and budget review and continuing on a trajectory of refining operations to ensure there is long-term sustainability for the company”.

“In February, we had five shows on stage in four cities in three countries, which is perhaps the best marker of where the company is focusing its attention and efforts. The touring program for the company this year is robust ... and one of the mechanisms we’re using to ensure company growth and sustainability.”

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