Tori and Mabelle talk with the fantastically prolific and lovely human, playwright Gina Femia. Gina discusses the evolution of her play, “For the Love of (or, the Roller Derby Play)”. Gina reveals insights into her writing process, the importance of workshopping and rewriting, and starting from a place of love.
SHOW NOTES
Writing prompt (courtesy of Gina Femia)
Start with a Place. Go on YouTube and find a city you want to visit or that you miss visiting and watch a video. See what you notice, then close your eyes and hear what you can hear. Do that a few times and then create a character who exists in that space–they might be visiting, they might live there or they might be part of the scenery. See what is revealed when you start with a place!
To learn more about Gina Femia, head to her website. Gina’s Instagram, where she promises not to take herself too seriously, is @harrythehoudini. Get your own copy of “For the Love of (or, the Roller Derby Play)” from here.
Gina’s Full Bio:
Gina Femia has written 32 full-length plays which include ALLOND(R)A (Winner: Leah Ryan Prize, Runner-up, Yale Drama Prize), We Are a Masterpiece (Winner: The Doric Wilson Award), The Mermaids’ Parade (Semifinalist, The Relentless Award, Finalist, Princess Grace Award), REBELS TIL DEATH (Reading, Playwrights Horizons), Annie and the Fat Man (Honorable Mention, The Kilroys), THIS HAPPENED ONCE AT THE ROMANCE DEPOT OFF THE I-87 IN WESTCHESTER (Workshop, Youngblood), Super, or, How Clark Graves Learned to Fly (semi-finalist The O’Neill and The Princess Grace Award), For The Love Of (Center Theatre Group’s Block Party, Theatre of NOTE, Original Works Publishing), and The Violet Sisters (Great Plains Theatre Conference). She is the 2019 Writer-in-Residence with Spicy Witch Productions (The Virtuous Fall of the Girls from Our Lady of Sorrows) and is an Alum of EST Youngblood, Pipeline Theatre’s PlayLab and New Georges’ Audrey Residency (Accidental Burlesque). Gina is a current member of Page 73’s Interstate 73 and Project Y Writers’ Groups. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and a New York Madness Company Member, and has received residencies with Page73, Powerhouse, NTI at the O’Neill, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and Fresh Ground Pepper. She has been nominated for the Otis Guernsey New Voices in the American Theater Award and the Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College (Lipkin Prize in Playwriting).
AND JUST IN CASE you want your own… Here.