Jorja Brown and Gabriel Faith Howard in goodbye.zoe by Theo Germaine. Indie Boots Theatre Festival 2017 - The Zoe Plays — Jorja Brown and Gabriel Faith Howard in *goodbye.zoe* by Theo Germaine. *Indie Boots Theatre Festival 2017 - The Zoe Plays*

Directing

As a director, Gaby’s main focus is to challenge audience’s empathy by engaging their imaginations. The plays she is interested in directing are larger than a living room in feeling and intention.

Artistic Statement: vision, fire, humility, and empathy

Theatre is the human tradition, we tell stories to each other to share our inner and outer lives and experiences. Our dreams, our fears, our wants, our needs, our pain, and our joy; all of these we are compelled to explore with others. We desire empathy from our fellow people, and it is imperative to our social survival to do the same for others. Especially for those who need it. It helps us know what to work on and for, individually and communally. Being a director means leading and enabling that evocative dialogue through the artistic interpretation of these stories, and I strive to do that with vision, fire, and humility.
My personal imperative is to be an excellent storyteller through making theatre. My main modes of contribution to our craft are acting, fight and intimacy choreography, and direction. What I love about direction is that it is artistic leadership in this storytelling: directors are charged not only with the composition of action onstage, but also of the vital, provocative, and effective interpretation of the story for communal empathy. It is leading a group of artists in a collaboration of empathy with the audience. It is having the responsibility of communication and effect, and that is a responsibility I love.
I am a firm believer that theatre can change the world one audience member at a time. Artistically, it is my greatest joy and pleasure to help people experience something new, something beyond their present experiences. I aim to affect and change others for the better with each piece I direct by engaging the audience’s imagination. Imagination gives individual control and connection between the observed and the personal. The expressionistic, the abstract, the grand, and the intimate are all sparks for this, and they’re all artistic languages for the director’s employ. I want to explore these while telling stories of the marginalized, being a fierce advocate for inclusion, diversity, and compassion.
I believe that vision, fire, and humility are essential artistic and collaborative values to being an effective director. Vision for text analysis and interpretation; the ability to see what the audience would witness and discover; and the ability to see with the performers and designers the world within and how it interacts with the world without. Vision to see option and possibility, to see ahead. I challenge myself to see things through others’ eyes while knowing my own lenses: How does this conflict or compliment my interpretation? How many ways can this be received? Why must I tell this story?
Fire to me means drive, passion, hunger, guidance, and perseverance. Fire the element is constantly searching, constantly moving. It has power to burn and destroy, but it also illuminates and warms. Directors lead the collective to tear down old notions and give hope and light to the future. They passionately search for solutions, or at least try to make some more visible to others. I am always a very passionate person, and making theatre as a director I strive to challenge the audience with truth and also give them hope.
Humility is a necessary quality for anyone in leadership. It is knowing that although you have vision and fire, that you’re not the only one with perspective or drive. It’s knowing that there isn’t only one way to do or make, and holding yourself and the work accountable. It is having responsibility of and consequence to everyone in the room. It is listening. It is remembering that in this artform we are never alone. This is the one that I am working on the most; sometimes I can get tunnel-vision when creating or finding solutions. I am working on listening and trying before deciding, and I need more practicum with that. Theatre is dialogue, not prescription.
I want to share my vision, fire, and humility as a director with the world. I want to play and create to the edges of all of our imaginations; to lead this collective sharing of self and change us all for the better through this craft of communal empathy.
- Gaby Labotka

Reviews

“Every once in a while I see a show that redefines a part of the art of theatre. Once in a great while. ... But, then something like “[Trans]formation” comes along. The show... takes on the heavy task of redefining language and interpersonal relationships, self-identity and how we look at others. This production has clearly been carefully crafted by director Gaby Labotka and her collaborators.”

— Christopher Kidder-Mostrom on [Trans]formation. Theatre by Numbers

Reviews of [Trans]formation

Review of [Trans]formation by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom, Theatre By Numbers
Emerging Bodies by Jay Van Ort, Feature for NewCity Stage
Theatre We Love: [Trans]formation by Laura Boton, Sine Qua Non
Review of [Trans]formation by Duanne Barnes, Chicago Theatre Beat
Theater Review: [Trans]formation by Jonathan Abarbenal, Windy City Times