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Gina Seghi
Gina is a divine actress. I first saw her in the EastEnder's production of Four Hotels and my initial thought was, "We'll never be able to get this woman to do one of our shows," never even suspecting that she had not only seen Troijka, but really liked it, and sure enough when Jesse Baldwin hit her up to play Naomi in Love Egos Alternative Rock Gina was not only game, she was there with all of her costumes ready. Out for blood from rehearsal one, Gina is one of those performers you can give anything to and expected to get twice as much back from: she's very committed, she's very smart, and she doesn't let anything scare her. If her nasty, totally evil Naomi was a delightful villain to savor, her next role with No Nude Men, in the revival of The Exiled, was equally as enthralling in a totally opposite direction, leaving her currently holding the crown for my favorite Regina yet- not too shabby considering the actresses who have proceeded her and doing this at the same time as starting a new job that basically allowed Gina to breeze in about ten minutes before curtain each night. Of course, this could all be expected from someone coming at us with an extensive theater background, including co-founding the New York City based troupe Quest Theater Ensemble. What I love about Gina is that she also spent a few years playing a Vulcan at Paramount Studios and somehow she manages to always bring both sides onto the stage with her and show us just why it's good to mix things up in ways that you would never expect, like when she originated the role of Lucifer in Nirmala Nataraj's The Book of Genesis: Remixed and Remastered, dressed in floral yellows and horns, all fifties housewife smiles and innocence crossed with the smart and subtle smirks of the devil. She's also twice played men's roles for me, though in both cases we had her play them as women, because Gina is just a wee bit too sexy to believe in anything less than high heels and well-tailored clothes. The first time was in the role of Tony, turned female for John Dixon's production of my play Troijka, the second was as Claudius in my gender-bending production of Hamlet. In both cases she did the presumably impossible, making these powerful characters infinitely more powerful when seen as female, and yet in both cases she still managed to bring human moments to figures who could easily become cardboard villains, threading her strength with vulnerability but never undercutting its power. Still, one of the highlights of my life will always be working with her on the 2005 No Nude Men production of Racine's Phaedra at the Climate Theater. Carrying a role and a show big enough to swallow most actresses twice her age and four times as seasoned, Gina exploded on stage every night, moving from wilting Victorian wallflower to enraged lover to redemptive sinner and finally, tragic martyr, all with a focus and precision I think even her most committed fans, including me, hadn't known she was capable of. Indescribably beautiful and adept in the role, she revolted and moved audiences night after night as they followed her down her path of despair, giving so much in each performance that afterwards she could barely speak. Truly one of the most amazing women I have ever gotten to direct, she rose to the occasion in such a fashion as to force me to raise my own standards of directing, and if I have a mission in life these days it's to see people like her get their just deserts, for Gina Seghi belongs on stages where hundreds can admire her, and it's only by luck and Providence that instead she gets to be here with us- perhaps and hopefully not the height of her career, but certainly one of the heights of mine. And if she gave me hell for following her star turn by casting her as Moth in my production of Love's Labors Lost, well. there's no one I'd rather get grief from, and true to form she kept with us and turned in another stellar performance, owning that character like she owns every part she plays- with style, flare, and just enough bite to remind you how lucky you are to work with her.
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