Dominic Hill is looking relaxed.

Perched floppily on a chair on one side of his office, one might even feel that the expression on the face of the artistic director of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow suggests he is positively pleased with himself. As well he might after his inaugural season of classic plays put Scotland's original international emporium back on the map.

Given that Hill cast Cal MacAninch in Harold Pinter's 1970s' love triangle play Betrayal, oversaw David Hayman's first appearance at the Citz for more than two decades in an epic take on Shakespeare's King Lear, and put a Samuel Beckett double bill of Krapp's Last Tape and Footfalls on the main stage, it's not hard to see why.

While Hill is understandably in repose after directing these three shows back to back, the tricky bit comes in following up such a striking calling card. The answer for Hill is to programme another season of expansively inclined work, mainly in co-production with other companies, while he will concentrate on directing his first Citizens' Christmas show.

"I feel really good," says Hill as he reflects on the season. "I think it's gone better than I could've expected. The press has been fabulous.

"We needed to put the Citz back on the map with lots of shows, with a consistency of work, and, most important of all, to get people to come to see the work, I think that's all been achieved.

"The Beckett was the real surprise to me. It was only on for a short time, and I didn't think people would come, but the response to it was amazing. With Footfalls, I thought people might wonder what the hell it was, but people have come out saying they'd no idea what it meant, but they thought it was awesome.

"The important thing about the Beckett as well was that they were done on the main stage. So at the moment it's a case of so far, so good. The real test is what happens now, because people need to come back."

With what's on offer, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. First out of the traps will be a visit from Communicado with a revival of Gerry Mulgrew's take on Tam O'Shanter, while the first Citizens co-production will be a production of Euripides' Greek classic, Medea. This will be in partnership with Headlong, which last visited the Citz with its epic production of Angels in America.

The Medea production will be written and directed by rising star Mike Bartlett, who is currently in the middle of a stage version of Chariots of Fire to tie in with the Olympic Games, and whose most recent play, Love Love Love, toured to the Citz.

"I've always said we're doing two things," says Hill, "which are classic plays for a contemporary audience, and alongside that will be new Glasgow plays. So Medea very much fits the former, and it felt very right for us. I think Mike Bartlett's a terrific writer, and that Headlong is an exciting company. Medea's very interesting subject matter for today, both in terms of parents who kill their children, which there seems to be a lot more about in the news, and with Medea being an outsider, an immigrant trying to fit into an alien society. I remember when I first read it how modern it felt."

Following Medea will be Glasgow Girls, the much anticipated musical by Cora Bissett, who scored a major hit with Roadkill. Seen as a work in progress as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, it tells the moving, true story of four young women asylum-seekers and three Glasgow girls who took on the Scottish Government and the Home Office. Since then, a multitude of partners, including the Citz, where Bissett is artist in residence, and the National Theatre of Scotland, have come on board for the show. Featuring original songs by Bissett and a host of singers, rappers and musicians, the show's title track, We are the Glasgow Girls, by MC Soom T, is about to be released by the NTS.

"This is something that is important in its subject matter," Hill observes, "and is something which has a popular appeal for audiences in Glasgow and beyond. David Greig's on board writing it, and it's very important to me that it opens here. I think its going to have massive integrity, but I also think it's going to be fab."

Next up, Hill will direct Rufus Norris's version of Sleeping Beauty. While not readily associated with Christmas shows, Hill's widescreen approach has previously been applied to several during his time at Dundee Rep, while he also directed Chris Hannan's take on The Three Musketeers at the Traverse.

"I like Christmas shows," he says. "This one especially is funny, but it's also very dark. Sleeping Beauty can sometimes be quite an insipid story, but this one has real energy and oomph, and I think it's really classy and impactful."

Hill aims to open 2013 with a yet-to-be-scheduled classic. Already announced is a co-production with the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh that will find writer Donna Franceschild adapting her much acclaimed TV drama, Takin' Over the Asylum, which featured Ken Stott and David Tennant, for the stage.

"The script first came to me at the Traverse," Hill explains, "and I loved the TV series. Again, it's a Glasgow story with a wide appeal, and I think that is right for here."

While ostensibly taking a breather from the rehearsal room, the new season also allows Hill to take stock.

"I couldn't do the same again," he says of directing three shows on the trot, "because it would kill me, and I think it would also bore the audience. I think it's important to bring in other directors, and I'm also testing what works and what doesn't."

Hill might not be directing a Citz production until Sleeping Beauty, but he's far from idle. In between programming the Citz, he's working on a production of Company by Stephen Sondheim with students at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow. The show will play at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe in an infinitely more lo-fi venue than Hill is used to.

"I'm quite looking forward to that whole Fringe experience," he says, "because I've never really done it since I was a student."

In the recent merry-go-round of directorships that have occurred since Hill took up his post at the Citz, the most tantalising is the forthcoming vacancy at the National Theatre of Scotland following Vicky Featherstone's departure to the Royal Court in London. Given Hill's expertise, both in running a company and knowing how to navigate a big stage better than a lot of his contemporaries, for many he is a natural for the job. Hill, however, begs to differ.

"We've got a lovely theatre here," he says, "and I love having a building. That's what I've always wanted, and I think this building suits me. I've got lists of plays I want to do here, and I want to work my way through them. It feels like I've only just started."

Tickets for the Citizens Theatre's autumn season go on sale from today www.citz.co.uk