Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Fabiola Arias. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Fabiola, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

“Fefu and Her Friends” by María Irene Fornés is one of my favorite plays. To me, its theatrical dynamite. It’s a story about friendship, love, raw emotion and everyday life. It examines how women live, how to bear their burdens and how sometimes the most mundane moments of life end up being the most special. There’s contradicting forces and tension in the way womanhood is seen, in behavior towards convention, and in regards to love and in how love affects each life differently. It ultimately is a love letter to all the different and beautiful forms womanhood takes and shows us how there is never one way to be a woman.

I have always wanted to direct this play. I directed a couple of scenes from it in college and took every opportunity given to me to work on it in classes but the desire to work on it as a full production always loomed over my head. Then, about a year ago, I got a call from my friend and fellow director Kathleen Capdesuñer who informed me that she was directing a production of the show and wanted me to be the Associate Director for the piece. I was thrilled and immediately agreed but even so, I could never have imagined how meaningful this project would end up being.

This production of Fefu and Her Friends wasn’t a traditional one. We were not doing a full production of the show, nor were we doing a traditional rehearsal process for it. This production was to be staged in collaboration with Sunnyside Community Services which is an old folks home in Sunnyside, Queens. We held auditions and made up a wonderful cast of 9 latina women from the community center. We spoke to them about the intentions of the production, about the significance of Maria Irene Fornés to the theatre world and we had deep conversations about what the play meant and the power in the story we were about to tell together. None of these women had ever acted before and through working with them we noticed the level of knowledge, life experience and beauty this women carried with them, and this changed everything.

We asked them to tell us their life story. We gathered the lessons they had learned, the trials they had overcome, the loves they had gained and lost, their goals for life, the moments they rose up, the moments they fell down, and in doing all of this we found 9 women who overcame everything put in their path to get what they wanted. These 9 women immigrated into the United States, had their families and careers in a new place while barely speaking any English, and changed their entire lives for the promise of a new one. Seeing this led to us wanting to include their stories in our production. We had already worked on cutting parts of the script to make it more accessible for the women to memorize, but instead of only having the words Fornés wrote, we were now going to add the words the women wrote, the once they already knew, their life stories.

The play became a way to honor these women and the lessons they brought with them. We bought costumes for them and wrote down the things they wished they could yell to the world. We created a play that wasn’t only thanking the playwright for her work, but also thanking the 9 women who were brave enough o bare their souls for theirs. The show had 3 performances and in all of them the women enjoyed themselves as if they were kids. For the two and a half months of rehearsal Kathleen, the 9 women of the community center, and myself lived in a bubble. We learned about each other, we grew together, and most importantly we created lasting connections. Seeing the play come to life was like seeing them finally be able to share their stories and feel like they were being heard, and at the end of the day that’s all anybody wants: to be heard.

We have a groupchat with the women to this day and still talk. They are best friends and do everything in the center together. In the groupchat they wish each other good luck on trips, send pictures of their days and enjoy each other’s friendship and company. This play gave them a new family away from home and that is the most meaningful thing a piece I have worked on has ever done. We changed their lives and they changed ours.

Fabiola, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am theatre director, producer and occasional painter. I did not grow up going to the theatre but I did grow up dancing. My exposure to directing came from watching my dance teachers fearlessly lead the end of year recital for 14 years. Watching them create something from nothing ignited a fire in me and helped me understand the magic of watching live performance.

Directing, to me, is like painting in 3D. You are grabbing the tools you have and finding the best way to use all of them to create something lasting, that causes feelings to stir inside you, that moves.

As a director, I am always finding ways to challenge myself and others while creating new and exciting worlds. I am deeply inspired by Maria Irene Fornés, Frida Kahlo, Cecily Brown, Henri Matisse, Pina Bausch, Ruben Blades, Gabriel García Márquez and more. I have a deep rooted love for magical realism, bilingualism in theatre, and stories that make us feel seen and showcase live’s flaws, strengths, ups and downs. I am incredibly passionate about working with underrepresented communities and long to direct works that center on culture, diversity, bring untold stories to the forefront of the theater. I adore working with artists from every background and being able to mix all their wonderful talents into one big ball of magic. I work in both English and in Spanish and like in some of my favorite projects, in both at the same time.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is two fold for me. One on side, seeing myself in something is a feeling compared with no other. I have a painting hanging over my bed that I made earlier this year and every time I look at it I see myself. I see my flaws, my strengths, the feeling I was having when I made it and the moment in time when it was created. It was a time capsule. Theatre to me achieves the same thing. Seeing a show I have directed feels like seeing a painting splattered with parts of myself. Giving myself to a show, finding a world in it and letting it grow and change with me leads to the

On the other side, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing the way your work affects other people, both inside and outside the process. Making people feel seen, having an impact on people’s lives, giving designers, actors, managers and everyone in a creative team the space to express their creativity and ideas is one of the best feelings ever. My job as director isn’t to have the best idea, but to recognize it, and creating the space for that to happen leads to a product that makes everyone feel something, or at least that’s always the hope!!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think something non-creatives might struggle to understand is the fact that any opportunity that allows you to flex your creativity is worth it, no matter how big or small it is. Anytime I am granted the space to be creative, to create something and to surround myself with people who care as much as I do is a blessing. It gives me purpose and keeps me moving forward and allows the opportunity for me to grow alongside my art.

Outside of that, finding the space to be creative is so important. Even when not actively working on your field, finding small moments everyday to be creative or be inspired by the world is what will keep the ball rolling. The world is full of art, it’s just about finding a way to be a part of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fabiola-arias.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabiolaarias30/

Image Credits
Headshot credit: Cason Doyle Photos 1,2,6: Helen Hylton Photos 4,5: Lee Lillis