Today we’d like to introduce you to Federica Borlenghi.

Hi Federica, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in Milan, Italy. I moved to New York straight out of high school. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been living in New York for 9 years… a third of my life! I had a very multi-interdisciplinary education: I went to music school from an early age, took acting lessons, attended a high school of visual arts, and pursue an education in the performing arts, where I fell in love with stage directing.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A rollercoaster would be a more accurate description! Navigating the theater industry takes a lot of effort, determination, and endurance. I was struggling to obtain opportunities, so I realized I had to make opportunities instead. So I became a Producer! And started off by producing original plays of mine that I wanted to workshop as a director. Project after project – and rejection after rejection – I found a new way of connecting and working with the New York’s theater community: prop design! I didn’t realize it’s something I have always meticulously taken care of for my own productions. It’s a profession I adore very much, but it’s incredibly difficult and exhausting too. People don’t realize how much it takes. To source, find, get/transport, distress, fix, maintain, return prop after prop! I am grateful for the opportunities it provided me and the artists I got to connect with, but I wish had industry valued this profession with more regard.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am predominantly a Writer-Director. I specialize in development of original work. I have a very intuitive and collaborative approach, and enjoy workshopping my writing in the rehearsal room, involving actors and designers into my writing process earlier on. I am particularly passionate about telling stories about immigrants and contemporary women.
I am most proud of a production of a piece of mine, Until Dark, produced by Et Alia Theater this past winter. I worked on the script on and off since 2019. After making the official selection of the Denver Fringe Festival in June 2020, I continued developing the piece with dramaturg Covi Loveridge Brannan, and participated to the inaugural Et Alia Theater Lab in 2023. There, I got to workshop the piece with director Inès Braun and the (extraordinary) company members of Et Alia Theater: Luisa Galatti, Ana Moioli, Maria Müller, and Giorgia Valenti. I then won the lab! So the company produced the play for a three week run at Out of the Box Theatrics, in Manhattan. It was my first kitchen-sink play, and the longest run that a piece of mine ever had! I am still filled with pride and gratitude for the amount of work and passion that the team poured into the show. We got to reprise the show at the Romanian Cultural Institute of New York a month later, as I simultaneously got to direct a reading of a translation of the play in Spanish, through the fabulous Teatro Pùblico, and present it at El Bastion, in San Juan (Puerto Rico). Sharing this story has been heartwarming, but also terribly saddening. The amount of people that related and connected with its darkness made it even more apparent to me of how important it is to provide prevention and validation. I am committed to continue using my writing to face inner demons, address the unaddressed, and start conversations.

I think what sets me apart is my hands-on deep understanding of what each production role is required to be set up for success. I gained this awareness by actively working in the industry in a gazillion roles, as a Production Assistant, a Stage Hand, a Spotlight Operator, a Prop Designer Assistant, an Assistant Director, a Stage Whisperer (I swear it’s real), an Assistant Stage Manager, Costume Designer, Carpenter Assistant… you name it! Every single one of these professions provided me with invaluable knowledge, which I always keep in mind when I lead the room as a Director, or when I am producing a production or an event.

What’s next?
Directing can be very draining, and directing your own writing – especially when dealing with personal and heavy subject matters – can take such a toll on you. After directing the play mentioned above this past Winter and Spring, I had to take time to recover from it. I am a huge advocate of emotional safety in the performing arts, and although my team and I took great care of cultivating a safe environment throughout the process, I was almost pushed to my limit – having an iteration after the other. I luckily got to fully decompress over the summer! I am still marinating on the experience and the content. I’ll eventually pick the pen back up to tweak and expand the piece a little more… the work is always ongoing! Until then… I have an exciting new writing project ahead! I obtained a Global Forms Seed Grant through Rattlestick, to further develop a new piece of mine, “Know You Fully”, exploring the beauty and hardships of being in a multilingual relationship. Directing wise, I am looking forward to assist other writers in developing their own work! To my excitement, I’ll be collaborating once again with my dear friends and collaborators, James Clemens and Sam Hood Adrain (from What Will The Neighbors Say?) in the fall, to further develop their historical-documentary piece, “At the Barricades”.

Contact Info:

• Website: federicaborlenghi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fedeborlenghi/

Image Credits
Portraits & Production of Until Dark photographs by Aleixa Heick Teatro Publico Reading photographs by Ricardo Alcaraz, Q&A group photograph by Thais Llorca