Instructor Spotlight: Gina Stevensen
How long have you been with The Writer’s Rock? What led you here?
I started in the spring of 2017, during my second year in the Playwriting MFA program at Columbia University. I had been teaching at Writopia Lab, and moved over to The Writer’s Rock to develop a new Stage & Screenwriting program here, which I’ve been growing ever since!
What do you like to write?
I’m a theatre nerd through and through, so plays are my first love (I was an actor before becoming a writer) and I also write screenplays and teleplays. I love incorporating historical and scientific research into my work. Stylistically, I’m a big fan of magical realism. And everything has to have some humor in it. Humor, followed by some gut punches.
Describe both your ideal and your actual writing routine.
I wasted a LOT of time consumed by guilt over the fact that I wasn’t someone who could wake up at 5am every morning, exercise for two hours, and then sit down and write for eight hours. I heard so many writers say that if you wanted to be a writer, that’s what you had to do. But my writing has never really followed a routine. Sometimes I don’t write for a week or two, and then it comes pouring out all at once. Sometimes I write every day. I’m finally shaking off all that guilt so that I can love the unique and unpredictable shape of my writing practice.
Who’s currently one of your favorite writers?
Sarah Ruhl for her impossible stage directions, Tarell Alvin McCraney for his heart-on-the-sleeve poetry. In the prose world, I recently read Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James and it is one of my all-time favorite books now. I love sci-fi and fantasy, and that novel is unlike any fantasy I’ve ever read.
What do you like most about teaching at The Writer’s Rock?
I love how the small workshop sizes allow for such focused attention on each writer’s work while also building such a strong sense of community within each group. My absolute favorite thing is the mix of people - in one group, you might have someone who is brand new to writing, someone who is a published author, someone in their 60s, and someone in their 20s. It’s inspiring to see the exchange of ideas and the bonds that form between folks who might not otherwise have encountered each other out in the world.
What else do you do?
In normal times I am always running off to rehearsals, but of course that’s not happening right now. I’m working with a TV writer on a couple new projects that are moving up the ladder towards production, which is exciting. I’ve really thrown myself onto the pandemic bread-baking wagon. It’s the one thing I’ll openly brag about. I make a pretty perfect sourdough loaf these days.
