Gia Forakis, nominated this year for the Outstanding Director award is quite proud to have directed Blue Before Morning, which received a whopping SEVEN Nominations!

At the end of this month you can catch Gia's work on Chekhov's classic The Seagull, produced by the National Asian American Theatre Co., September 29 - October 17.

I asked Gia about directing The Seagull and working Off-Off-Broadway:

"The fact is, if this wasn't a risky endeavor I probably wouldn't take the job. Why anyone signs on for an indie project is NOT FOR THE MONEY! We do it for the challenge. We do it for the people involved and because there is some part of us as indie theatre artists that desires to push our limits and stretch our imaginations.

"The type of work you get to do OOB is about taking theatrical risks, exploring and experimenting with ideas of storytelling and what the theatrical experience itself is or can be. I often liken it to flying without wings because what makes it --any of it --exist and come to fruition are equal proportions of faith, fortitude, inspiration and imagination...we accomplish the impossible with every show.

"The acknowledgement of the IT nomination really is a shot in the arm. To be in a city with more theater on a nightly basis than anywhere else in the world and feel that you have made something which made a difference to your community is significant and I haven't felt this before."

Billed as "This is not your Grandma's version of Chekhov!" Gia anticipates a production of The Seagull unlike any that NYC has seen, a non-naturalistic vision of Chekhov capitalizing on the humor inherent in the script and drawing from such diverse comedic sources as vaudeville, Commedia Dell Arte, the Marx Brothers and Looney Tunes and spoofing multiple theatrical conventions.

You can catch THE SEAGULL: A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS Produced by National Asian American Theatre Co., September 29th through October 17th.  For more information, check out www.NAATCO.org.