Background + Training
About Me
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gina.stevensen@gmail.com
Gina Stevensen grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and moved to New York City in 2007 to study at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where she received her BFA in Drama with a minor in Applied Theater. She completed her primary training at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, and went on to study at the Experimental Theater Wing where she focused on acting and creating original work. She studied abroad at the International Theater Workshop: Amsterdam as well as in Bangalore, India with Theater Mitu's South India Artist Intensive. She received her MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University under the guidance of Lynn Nottage, David Henry Hwang, and Chuck Mee.
The Colony
- Finalist, The Kennedy Center's 12th Annual MFA Playwrights Workshop (2018)
- Columbia University New Plays Festival 2018, Signature Theatre's Ford Studio (April 26-28, 2018)
A young woman named Carrie Buck arrives at a mysterious medical facility. Where is her daughter? What is this place? Why is she here? Based on true events surrounding the 1927 Supreme Court case Buck vs. Bell, The Colony explores the xenophobia and reckless patriotism that swept through America nearly a hundred years ago, and the present-day reverberations of this controversial legacy.
Plays, Productions + Awards
*Instructor in screenwriting, playwriting, and solo performance for adults at The Writers Rock (Spring 2017-present)
*Writing coordinator for Tribeca Performing Arts Center's Writers in Performance Workshop(2015-present)
*Teaching Assistant in undergraduate drama classes at NYU Tisch (Fall 2017), Teaching Assistant in undergraduate acting at Barnard College (Spring 2017)
*Creative writing instructor at Writopia Lab, an afterschool creative writing program for elementary, middle, and high-school students (Fall 2016-present)
*Teaching artist in partnership with Carnegie Hall's Somewhere Project, a citywide exploration of West Side Story for community arts organizations (Winter 2015)
*Creator of the Indian Arts Workshop, an educational outreach program presented through the off-Broadway theater Urban Stages, which she performs at libraries throughout New York City (2015-present)
*Artistic director of Cirque d'Ete at Park Slope Day Camp - a summer circus and performing arts camp for elementary school students (2011-2017)
Teaching Experience
Book of Esther
- Reading, Hartford Stage (May 2018)
- Workshop production, KNOW Theatre (August 2016)
- Semi-finalist, 2016 Princess Grace Award
- Top ten finalist, Jewish Playwriting Contest (2017)
- Workshop production, Alchemical Theatre Lab, produced by Joust Theatre Company (December 2017
Within the confines of an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, a new generation of women is pushing the boundaries. Esther grew up in a loving and religious family, but she is seventeen now and can feel a larger world outside her own. Will her questioning take her too far to come home?
Cruel Sister
- Semi-Finalist, Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference (2018)
- Workshop production, Columbia University (March 2017)
Dawn and Shelby are twins struggling with popularity and body image. They long to connect with their lonely father, but lately he is only interested in communicating through his food. When a mysterious new teacher comes into their lives, introducing them to a folktale about jealous sisters ending in bloody violence, reality and myth start to blur.
Memberships & More
Gina participated in the 36-Hour Play Festival Celebrating Women Artists at Urban Stages in March of 2015, where she wrote the short play Troll Doll's Big Day. She wrote the short play This Ability as a commission for the As Performance Series at NYU Steinhardt's Drama Therapy program in 2016.
She is a core member of The Hess Collective, a former member of Open Hydrant Theater Company and a former literary committee member at the off-Broadway house Urban Stages. She was a finalist to be an MFA Mentor for Horizon Theatre's 2017 Young Playwrights Festival. She is an associate member of the Dramatist's Guild of America, and was a semifinalist for the 2018 Creative Residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.
