ABOUT GIA FORAKIS

Gia Forakis is recognized as a stage director and avant garde theater artist creating vividly engaging and physically dynamic works for the stage.

She is the Artistic Director of GF&CO, a not-for-profit studio-lab, and the Founder & Master Teacher of the One-Thought-One-Action (OTOA)™ performance technique.

Gia holds an MFA from Yale's David Geffen School of Drama in Directing and a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting Program. She has been nominated for a Broadway World Award for Best Director of a Play (Off-Off Broadway), a New York Innovative Theater Award (in Outstanding Theater Direction), and the prestigious Zelda Fichandler Award. She has received a Mary Jean Parson's Award (for directing studies) and a Paulette Goddard Award (for acting studies). Gia is a member of SDC (Society for Stage Directors & Choreographers).

VISION / AESTHETIC

The Auteur Stage Director & Theater Maker

Art is Not a Luxury

I see the arts as the place where we encounter our humanity, nurture our civility, and fortify our connection to one another.

I find satisfaction in creating adaptations and/or experimental, devised, ensemble-built original works, and I welcome any opportunity to re-imagine classic texts in pursuit of their contemporary resonance.

I am attracted to projects that feature an attention to language or that push the boundaries of form and style. Employing choreographed or stylized movement is a device I like to use to reveal the sub-textual landscape of the narrative or to illuminate sub-plot.

For me, theater is a visual medium (rather than a literary one), and visual storytelling is an essential element of my work. I approach my directing compositions almost sculpturally.

My aesthetic (whether I am directing the works of others or creating my own original projects for the stage) is a detailed, physical, and vividly dynamic approach to storytelling. Throughout the development and rehearsal process, the text is my road map for discovering and identifying a path of incremental thoughts leading to what may seem like a choreographed score of moment-to-moment physical actions. I achieve this by introducing the principles of the OTOA performance technique to every cast I work with.

Through the introduction of OTOA, I create a unified language and frame of reference for structuring the collaboration as we go about discovering, building, and rehearsing the content of the production.

The OTOA technique is not only a tool for enriching the craft of the theater artist (performers, directors, singers, designers, writers, et.al…), it is also the technique that supports my own theater aesthetic by focusing on what I refer to as the Physical Expression of the Performer’s (or Character’s) Thinking Process.

As a director and playwright, OTOA offers me a way to craft each moment of physical action almost cinematically, frame by frame: ONE (incremental frame of) THOUGHT, and ONE (incremental frame of physical) ACTION at a time (= One-Thought-One-Action).

My ongoing commitment to theater making comes from a driving desire to create a world of mythical and metaphorical potential that captures the poetic nature of the human condition: creating a shared experience for encountering our humanity, nurturing our civility, and enriching our capacity to connect with something larger than our quotidian sense of self.

I am always in search of those rare and magnificent moments in both life and art when the miraculous is revealed and the realm of daily existence expands into epic proportions.

BACKGROUND

Youth: New York City

When I was born, we lived in a loft building in the Meat Packing district of New York City. (Don't faint, but at that time, my parents paid $70 per month to rent two floors: one where we lived, and one where my parents, both artists, had their art studio).

I have early memories of mornings with huge carcasses of raw meat hanging from meat hooks outside giant refrigerated warehouses next door to our building, and smiling men, in white butcher’s coats splattered with blood, waving hello to me with beefy hands, as I left for school.

My introduction to theater was performing as the youngest member of the ensemble in the Meredith Monk production of JUICE, at the Guggenheim Museum, NYC, where I led the opening parade of adult performers into the museum and up the spiral gallery ramp, while playing the juze harp, at the age of 6.

Youth: Vermont

At the age of 9, my family moved to Putney, Vermont. At that time, Putney had a population of under 5,000 people with an eclectic and exceptionally cultured community of x-urbanites comprised of exceptional, well regarded visual artists, authors, architects, musicians, and theater makers.

I studied improvisation with Siglinde De Francesca at the Brattleboro Center for the Performing Arts (BCPA), which was founded by Arthur Lithgow (father of actor John Lithgow). During my time there, I was cast in the role of Matilda in the BCPA’s main stage production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. In a notable parallel to the film version, my own mother played the role of Beatrice.*

(*These two roles were made famous by Nell Newman (daughter of Paul Newman, who, coincidentaly, I would later end up attending high school with at The Putney School) and her mother Joanne Woodward (who I would much later have the pleasure to work with as an award presenter, when I directed the Connecticut Critics Circle Awards in New Haven, CT, in 2003.))

Gia age 9Photo by Jerimiah Dine (cropped)

I actually began directing in my teens when I founded the Silver Lining Theater, which I ran for three consecutive summers in our barn. Thanks to the generosity of local carpenters and electricians, who tricked the space with a stage, lighting, and a sound system, I organized my childhood friends and their younger siblings (many of whom went on to become theater professionals as adults) to rehearse plays such as E.T.A. Hoffman's "Coppéllia", Lucille Fletcher's "Sorry Wrong Number", and Sartre's "No Exit". We even garnered critical acclaim in local papers. When I reflect back on that time and my single-minded unfettered sense of purpose, organizing skills, and vision to see a ramshackle series of abandonded stables and a hayloft as a performance space, I marvel at how similar that young version of myself is to the theater artist I am today.

Meanwhile, I attended High School at The Putney School, where I made lasting friendships and where theater became my passion. Joyce Devlin, a former NYC stage and TV actress, ran the theater department at that time. She opened our eyes to the changing climate of theater and the politics of the 1970’s and how one could inform the other.

The 12-13 years that I lived in Vermont shaped me in ways that grounded my sense of self and introduced me to the richness of community.

HIGHER EDUCATION

New York University (Bachelor of Fine Arts)

After Putney, I attended Bennington College, in Bennington, VT. Although it was founded originally as a women’s college, by the time I attended it had become co-ed with a ratio of 4 to 1 (women to men).

At the start of my second year at Bennington, I took a leave of absence to travel in Europe for two months with my then boyfriend. We visited 8 countries, stayed in Youth Hostels, and got around on a Euro Rail Pass (a thing of the past).

Before this trip, I had never been away from my family for more than 2 weeks at sleep away camp (which I hated), and the only time I had left the U.S. was to Canada and Nova Socia with my mother.

The trip to Europe opened my eyes to the world, and by the time I got back to Bennington it felt too small, too familiar, and too tame for me. I wanted more excitement. So, I auditioned and was accepted into New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting Program (formerly the Conservaorty Acting Program).

Living in NYC again was thrilling. I was inspired and curious about everything: people, shops, style, Washington Square Park, Central Park, museums, movies, plays, music, dance, food... Whereas it took me only 15 minutes to walk across town to get to school each day, after classes my walk home often took me two hours stopping to investigate everything along the way.

I was especially inspired by the experimental, dance-theater, performance-art arena and the downtown visual art scene of the 1980's. Grounding these more fringe-based art movements was my actor training and degree from NYU.

At NYU, I studied with such luminaries in the field as Hovey Burgesss, Omar Shapli, Ron Van Lieu, and Olympia Dukakis (to name a few).

An important feature in the Tisch Acting program at that time was the “cross-pollination” with the Modern Dance department. Not only did this exposure impress upon me a vocabulary for physical theater, but it forged lasting collaborating partnerships with dancer-choreographers such as Theresa Reeves, Kate Gyllenhaal, Sara Lampert, Susan Hefner, Peggy Gould, and others.

I performed in many productions at NYU, including Athol Fugard’s play, STATEMENTS AFTER AN ARREST UNDER THE IMMORALITY ACT, opposite actor Eriq La Salle and directed by Johnathan Rosenberg. Unbeknownst to me, at the final performance, James Earl Jones was in the audience. Afterward, he surprised me by coming backstage where he congratulated me for my performance and kissed my hand. In a state of shock and awe, all I could think to say was “I will never wash this hand again.”

THEATER MAKER

My time after NYU was followed by 15 years performing within the Off-Broadway & Off-Off-Broadway NYC theater community and Summer Stock theaters.

I was one of the original performers in Tony Kushner’s theater collective, 3P Productions (Politics, Poetry & Popcorn) appearing in his play AGE OF ASSASSINS.

In the professional acting arena, the feedback I kept confronting from managers, agents, and casting agents was that I was a talented actor, but it was difficult to categorize my "type". As a young half-Greek, half-Russian-Jew, I was considered "too exotic" looking to be cast as the "all American" ingenue and "too attractive" to be cast in "comic supporting roles." This was clearly a reflection of the time (the 1980's- 90's) as now there is far more interest in multi-ethnicity. However, it was this roadblock that led me to begin creating my own work.

I progressed from acting to working as playwright, producer, performer, and director of my own original projects for the stage. The projects began as solo works, but over time I began adding additional actors, creating productions (such as Personal Garbage) with a cast of 12. The motivation was to create opportunities for myself to perform in.

In the early 1990’s, I co-founded Pull & Be Damned Production with choreographer/director Sara Lampert (which later became Epic Proportions Productions).

Under the umbrella of these two producing entities, and spanning a period of over 10 years, we created, directed, produced, and performed in over 17 original, multi-media, experimental works for the stage in NYC venues such as: DIA Downtown, T.W.E.E.D. New Works Festival, West Bank Downstairs Theater Bar, Dixon Place, HERE Center for the Arts, Pulse Theatre, Access Theatre, Café Bustelo, New Math Gallery - as well as venues in New Haven, CT and Warren, VT.

STAGE DIRECTOR

Yale David Geffin School of Drama (Master of Fine Arts)

By the end of the 1990's I had become interested in working as a professional director. In 2001, I was accepted into the MFA Directing Program at Yale School of Drama and graduated in 2004.

During my time at YDGSD (formerly Yale School of Drama/YSD), my focus was the pursuit of my directorial aesthetic. It may have been wiser to focus on professional contacts and leveraging connections with my classmates, but I had always been somewhat oblivious to the "business" of the arts.

However, it was through my interest and curiosity as to how to articulate and realize an aesthetic that I discovered what has become the guiding principle for shaping the second chapter in my creative life: the development of the One-Thought-One-Action (OTOA) technique (detailed below).

Directing

Since Yale, I have worked professionally as a freelance stage director. I’ve had the great fortune to work locally in NYC and regionally across the United States with such theater companies and producing organizations as: Bristol Riverside Theater (Bristol, PA.), NAATCO (NYC), HERE Arts Center (NYC), Rattlestick (NYC), DR2 (NYC), The Kitchen (Ithaca, NY), Milwaukee Shakespeare (Milwaukee, WI), Bay Theater (Annapolis, MD), The Kitchen (NYC), Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA), Hudson Valley Shakespeare (Cold Springs, NY), Beth Morrison Projects, La Opera’s REDCAT (Los Angeles, CA), and others.

In 2011, I founded GF&CO as a platform for the exploration and application of the OTOA technique through the creation of plays, art events, and performance projects.

OTOA (One-Thought-One-Action)™

Founded in 2004. Teaching since 2006.

2026: Celebrating 20 Years Teaching OTOA

OTOA is taught in two applications:

· OTOA Performance Technique & Training (PTT)™: OTOA PTT is the identification of smaller increments of thoughts as smaller moments of physical action. OTOA PTT is beneficial for: performers, directors, public speakers, teachers, collaborators, choreographers, filmmakers, theater makers, and more.

· OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP)™: OTOA CLP is the practice of creating your life using the creative process. OTOA CLP benefits creative thinkers in any field; “You do not need to be an artist to benefit from a Creative Life Practice,” – G. Forakis

All OTOA classes, workshops, and private coaching sessions are led by Founder & Master Teacher Gia Forakis.

Workshops are led locally, regionally, nationally, internationally, and upon request.

For further information: www.OneThoughtOneAction.com

GF&CO (Gia Forakis & Company)

Founded in 2011

2026: Celebrating 15 Years of GF&CO

GF&CO is a Brooklyn-based not-for-profit studio-lab dedicated to the application of the One-Thought-One-Action (OTOA)™ performance technique through the creation of art events and performance projects.

GF&CO is built upon the premise that the arts are where we encounter our humanity, nurture our civility, and fortify our connection to one another. Through the support of producing partnerships, patrons, and creative institutions, our Mission is to develop and create theatrical performance projects, salons, and art events that remind us to foster something larger than our quotidian sense of self.

For further information: www.GFandCO.org

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TEACHING, GUEST ARTIST,

and GUEST LECTURER

CREDITS

· Atlantic Theater Company, Conservatory Program, NYC

· Fordham University, NYC

· International Festival of Making Theater, Athens, GREECE

· International Shakespeare Festival, National Theater, Bitola, MACEDONIA (former Yugoslavia)

· ITAKA Shakespeare festival, Novi Aad, SERBIA

· Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, NYC

· Neighborhood Playhouse school, NYC

· New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, NYC

· Off Square Theatre Company, Jackson Hole, WY

· Pratt University, Brooklyn NY

· The New School, NYC

· University of Texas, Austin, TX

EDUCATION

· BFA in Acting, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting Program

· MFA in Directing, Yale David Geffen School of Drama

AFFILIATION

· Member SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society)

· WP (Women’s Project) Director’s Lab Alumna

· New Georges’ Affiliated Artist

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