Song From the Uproar:
The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt

2015 PRESS QUOTES:

Opera Today:

Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar at REDCAT
October 2015
 
Spellbinding...a joy to experience. Read More >>

New Classic LA:

Review: Missy Mazzoli/LA Opera: Song from the Uproar
October 2015
 
A treat... I can think of no better way to be introduced to LA Opera than by this show. ...The choreography [by Gia Forakis] was stunning. ...I cannot rave enough about this opera. Read More >>

2012 PRESS QUOTES:

Time Out New York Review:

Review: Song from the Uproar
By Marion Lignana Rosenberg
 
FIVE STARS! ...director Gia Forakis's fluid, gently hieratic choreography & contribute to the magic of this extraordinary piece, a paean to a woman whose indomitable spirit sings on, even in death. Read More >>

The Wall Street Journal Review:

Song From the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt
By Heidi Waleson
 
Powerful and New.... Gia Forakis' ingenious multimedia staging was built on stylized gesture, incorporating soft-focus black-and-white films by Stephen Taylor that suggested the inner and outer lives of the protagonist without being prescriptive. Read More >>

NYTimes Review:

Crackling Vignettes From an Adventurer's Life
By Steve Smith
 
The emotional efficacy and irresistible magnetism of Ms. Fischer's performance and in the electric surge of Ms. Mazzoli's score you felt the joy, risk and limitless potential of free spirits unbound. Read More >>

I Care If You Listen.com Review:

Missy Mazzoli's Song from the Uproar: A Masterpiece of Modern Opera
By Lauren Alfano
 
Director Gia Forakis deserves the highest praise for her work. She and her team conceived and choreographed a stunning artwork of sight and sound that worked extremely well the intimate space of The Kitchen, but would not feel out of place on a larger stage as well. Song from the Uproar is a thrilling drama that deserves to be performed many more times in the future. Read More >>

Operavore Review:

Aprés Missy Mazzoli, le Deluga
By Olivia Giovetti
 
Mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer & uses the repetitions of musical lines and choreographed movement (courtesy of director Gia Forakis) as a means of understanding her character's own state of being, the way a burgeoning reader would sound out the same word until it clicked in their head & a cool 75 minutes that packs a Ring–worthy punch & a meticulously maintained Versailles of abstraction and atmosphere. Read More >>

The Seagull

NYTimes Review:

Chekhov’s Bird Flies With a Sense of Humor
By Andy Webster

Chekhov’s “Seagull” is given a splash of cool absurdism in the National Asian American Theater Company’s new version, and it’s bracing. What can sometimes be presented as a glum panorama of bourgeois delusion and tragedy (Chekhov insisted, as this troupe does, that the play is a comedy) is here a lively production punctuated by touches of vaudeville and the grotesque. Read More >>

Show Biz Weekly:

The Seagull
By Marianne Moore

Abandoning naturalism, director Gia Forakis takes Chekhov's subtitle, "A Comedy in Four Acts," at its word, delivering a highly choreographed, intensely physical, vaudevillian Seagull, which, despite its relentless irony (or rather, because of it), manages to say more about the play's sadism and tragedy than any "straight" production could possibly hope to. Read More >>

Curtain Up:

The Seagull: A Comedy in 4 Acts
By Amy Krivohlavek

With its wonderfully acted performances and astute direction, this vibrant production is certainly unlike any Chekhov you've seen before. Ultimately it is Forakis' direction—and the performers' deft execution of it—that give this production its sparkle. With graceful, determined, exuberant gestures, the characters seem to bounce across the stage. On this Dr. Seuss-ian landscape, there's no room for naturalism, and humor crackles through slapstick physical comedy: quick gestures, deft asides, and (sometimes alarmingly) flexible facial expressions. In Act IV, after two years have gone by, the final scenes surge with a truth and sincerity—and, yes, naturalism—made all the more riveting by the artifice that preceded it. Read More >>

NYTheatre.com:

The Seagull
By Fred Backus

This production of The Seagull is first and foremost an insightful examination of theatrical form. This approach also blatantly reminds us that the issue of theatrical form is central to Chekhov's play. Forakis has intentionally broad-stroked over the psychological ironies of these characters in terms of the juxtaposition of their stated and true intentions for a greater irony in Chekhov that is often underplayed. Read More >>

Song From the Uproar: Chamber Version

NYTimes Review:

Lonely Swiss Wanderer From Long Ago Becomes Composer's Muse
By Steve Smith
 
Even before you got into Galapagos Art Space in Dumbo, on Friday night, you could tell that anticipation was running high...Live performance and video fused with unusual potency...Abigail Fischer, a mezzo-soprano, confidently navigated a spare, cool staging by Gia Forakis... Read more. Read More >>

Blue Before Morning

NYTimes Review:

Theater Review / 'Blue Before Morning'
By Anita Gates

Nice performances all around ... Ms. McGovern's dialogue even dares to to raise the kinds of race-related social issues that Bill Cosby was alternately criticized and praised for talking about a few yearsago. ...A quirky, personable little [play] with a warm heart. Read More >>

nytheatre.com Review:

Blue Before Morning
By Amber Gallery

The experience of Kate McGovern's Blue Before Morning, in the skilled hands of director Gia Forakis, can best be described as the highest quality of naturalism "neat" with just a splash of expressionism. The perfect blend of these two elements creates a work that is both moving in the way only the purest form of "realistic theatre" can be and innovative in style. Read More >>

Love Person

San Francisco Chronicle Review:

Kapil's 'Love Person'
By Robert Hurwitt

Director Gia Forakis gives "Love" a crisp and technically impressive staging, making good use of Erin Gilley's inventive subtitle, Sanskrit and computer screen projections on Eric Sinkkonen's deep orange, Indian restaurant-like set. The play is presented as part of a National New Play Network "rolling" world premiere, meaning that this is the second of a package of separate productions following its actual premiere in Minneapolis, where Kapil, a Swedish citizen of Bulgarian and Indian descent, lives.

Marin Independant Journal Review:

'Love Person' a Treat
By Charles Brousse

While space wasn't available for a full review when the Marin Theatre Company opened 'Love Person' late last month, I thought I'd share my opinion that this is the best play to appear around these parts in some time.

Written by Aditi Brennan Kapil and presented as part of a collaborative network whose goal is to launch worthy new works through "rolling world premieres" in Marin, Minneapolis and Indianapolis, 'Love Person' explores how various forms of communication - including the telephone, text messaging, email, traditional letters and sign language used by the deaf can shape relationships in a society that seems more fragmented than ever before.

Kapil offers a group of interesting and diverse characters that are expertly portrayed by MTC's cast, directed by Gia Forakis. It's fascinating to observe them struggle with what many of us have already sensed: That advances in communications technology, rather than clarifying our understanding of other people and events, may actually make the task more difficult.

Don't Miss it.

The Bohemian Review (Critic's Pick):

Found in Translation: MTC's 'Love Person' a One-of-a-Kind Story
By David Templeton

Love Person is meticulously designed so that, through projections, supertitles and onstage interpretation, we always know more or less exactly what the characters are trying to say. As result, the play ends up making supporting characters out of the languages each character uses to communicate. I've honestly never seen anything like it.

Simply and effectively adapted, the production is designed by Eric E. Sinkkonen, with subtle but significant lighting design by Stephanie Buchner and a nice, nonintrusive musical score by Chris Houston, which brings a great deal of mood and tension to the show. The actors are all excellent, displaying shades of evolving character as they reveal the aching, loving, silly, inventive, forgiving and resilient souls that live and breathe beneath all those word.

Picnic

Baltimore Sun Review:

Picnic' Serves Up Talent and Nostalgia.
Bay Theater Delivers a Stunning Production
By Mary Johnson

A veritable entertainment banquet of delights - a visionary director, polished performances, a minimalist set exuding backyard Americana …With this stunning production…Bay Theatre has reached yet another pinnacle of excellence. ...[Forakis] has drawn amazing performances from her cast. And, with the help of scenic designer Lee Savage, Bay's small space has been turned into a mid-20th century Kansas backyard…

Potomac Stages:

A Well-Performed Production
By William Bryan

Director Gia Forakis does a fine job of presenting a deeply satisfying work, molding her cast into a strong ensemble that seems to fit the time and place… This is a solid production…

The Rivals

NYTimes Review:

Making Merry at Boscobel
By Nelson Pressley

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has its own traditions about classic theater, so Mrs. Malaprop (Nance Williamson) is far from the only source of humor in this joyful production. ...In less practiced or well-intentioned hands, a lot of this could be tiresome, but the director, Gia Forakis, and the cast's irrepressibly playful spirit help the actors get away with it. Read More >>

Times Herald Record review:

The Rivals
By James F. Cotter

In its 20 year tradition of freewheeling performances and fidelity to the text, the company, thanks to the brilliant direction of newcomer Gia Forakis, offers a witty, articulate and colorful revival of this 1775 classic.

Poughkeepsie Journal review:

Bawdy Romp Showcases Talented Cast
'The Rivals' plays at Shakespeare fest
By Vinny Alexander

Director Gia Forakis understands that comedy is built on rhythm. She creates a fast-paced romp in which the actors deliver their lines at high speed and with high energy. The show moves so well that it often feels like the actors are stuck in a perpetual state of fast-forward, especially during scene transitions. The circus music and sound bites from Warner Brothers' cartoons contribute to the high energy and dizzying speed. Visually, the show is stunning. With visual puns and slapstick comedy, "The Rivals" is a pleasure to watch.

Acts of Mercy

Time Out Review:

acts of mercy: passion-play
By Tav S.D.

Mercy is what we holler when someone is twisting our arm behind our back. The acts of mercy in Michael John Garcés’s play are similar: brief respites from the prevailing pattern of universal cruelty. … Thanks to Garcés’s moving and sharply observed script—directed with depth, thoroughness and passion by Gia Forakis—we are always aware of an underlying tenderness repressed under layers of machismo. …Forakis deserves laurels for drilling this talented cast into a half-dozen remarkable performances…

Variety Review:

Acts of Mercy: passion-play
By Marylin Stasio

Forakis, ...knows how to stage the confrontational scenes that Garces writes for angry and inarticulate men, keeping these encounters tight and scary.
Read More >>

TheaterMania Review:

Acts of Mercy: passion-play
By Adam Klasfeld

Gia Forakis directs smoothly, yet does not hold back in presenting the plays more shocking moments.

The Winter's Tale

OnMilwaukee.com Review:

Humor warms up "The Winter's Tale"
By Russ Bickerstaff

It's about the destructive nature of jealousy and the redemptive power of love, but the theme isn't as impressive as the mood. Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale," balances tragedy against comedy with an impressively sharp contrast. Milwaukee Shakespeare director Gia Forakis has honed the sharpness of this contrast to a razor's edge ... there is just enough balance between all the relevant elements to make for a remarkably cohesive evening of theatre.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

An Alternate Take On The Bard
By Damien Jaques

Director Forakis’…resulting production excels at establishing a mood and painting vivid pictures with strong design elements. Read More >>

Uncle Vanya

Connecticut Ridgelea Review:

Uncle Vanya, by Anton Checkhov
By Tom Nissle

...a superb production of Uncle Vanya, conceived and directed by Gia Forakis...Ms. Forakis called forth magnificent performances from a well-selected cast...Forakis richly deserves high praise for imagining and directing this production, and all the talented production staff deserves it with her...a job well done to the entire company of Uncle Vanya.