By Ana Isabella Bury ’25
To ensure Choate students get the most out of their time in the classroom, the Arts Department invites an array of experts with diverse perspectives to speak to aspiring artists. At the beginning of the winter term, playwright Mx. Gina Femia visited Theater teacher Mr. Bari Robinson’s Acting 350 class.
Mx. Femia discovered their love for the arts at a very young age through acting, and they were in all of their school’s plays. “I took classes with an organization called Young Playwrights Inc. and wrote my first full-length play when I was 16 and decided I wouldn’t ever stop! Telling stories for the stage is the way my art knows how to most clearly speak, and I hope to create characters that folks enjoy inhabiting,” they said.
Mx. Femia takes inspiration from their upbringing as a Brooklyn native and life experiences while crafting their art. “Many of my characters are queer, and I explore that infinite spectrum through stories that don’t shy away from reality but strive to embrace joy,” they said.
Mr. Robinson got to know Mx. Femia during a 2021 acting workshop for their play meet you at the Galaxy Diner. Over the years, Mr. Robinson has acted in their plays, attended their performances, and even contributed to Alondra, a novel Mx. Femia recently wrote.
The Acting 350 class was recently tasked with writing one-person shows, making Mx. Semia’s visit particularly timely given their experience with this genre. “He has asked me to teach this class session for the last three years, and I’m always so happy to do so,” Mx. Femia said.
To begin the class, Mx. Femia asked students about their favorite characters from theater and cinema. Then, they tasked students with creating characters of their own. They said, “I really just deliver some thoughts and writing exercises and then get to be in awe of the work that they create.”
Students were fully immersed in the educational experience that Mx. Femia led them through. Mr. Robinson recalled watching the actors’ faces light up after they were given a prompt in class. “As a teacher, whenever an idea can spark that kind of fear, joy, and courage, that’s when I know the assignment is working,” he said. “It’s amazing to see where one simple idea can go when followed to its logical, or fantastical conclusion.”
Acting 350 student Leanne Parks ’25 said that the techniques that Mx. Femia used to unlock students’ creativity and imagination, including one where they had a conversation with an imaginary character, gave her a sense of direction in her writing.
Mx. Femia’s workshop also helped actors become more comfortable with performing their own scripts. Actors are used to working off of professionally written work: “It’s a different feeling when you’re doing your own thing because it’s something personal. What if they don’t like my story?” Parks said.
Mr. Robinson described writing, staging, and acting a one-person show as a “Herculean [task] that is unique to Choate and unique to an acting curriculum.” While Mr. Robinson said his job is “to get the actors to think on their feet,” Mx. Femia’s is to guide students through the process of developing their characters. Though the two have different approaches to their creative work, “the actors need both in order to accomplish this task,” he said.
During the workshop, Mx. Femia also emphasized the importance of revision. “The first draft is only the first instinct — it’s necessary and great, but the real work and the true joy of discovering your piece is in the second, third, forever drafts,” they said.
Besides their visit to campus, Mr. Robinson has also integrated Mx. Femia’s work into some of his lesson plans. Their plays speak to the experiences of young people, which inspired Mr. Robinson to use their work for scene study in his Acting 100 class. “I admire the honesty and authenticity of their characters and the frankness [with] which they speak,” Mr. Robinson said.
Mr. Robinson described Mx. Femia as an “astute and intuitive playwright” and hopes that their visit taught students how to organize their thoughts onto page and bring their characters to life.
Reflecting on their experience at Choate, Mx. Femia was impressed by the students’ confidence. “Each student so willingly gave themselves to the process and shared fearlessly — their work was imaginative and sharp. It was very inspiring to be in their presence,” they said.
