Guilford Performing Arts Festival Performer Profile: Emily Breeze and Marialena DiFabbio

2020 GPAF Artists’ Award recipients in drama

The Homewrecker was co-written by Emily Breeze and Marialena DiFabbio, and is directed by Jessica Slaght. Using the Helen of Troy story as a parallel, it maps Greek mythology onto the surface of a suburban shoreline town as it explores the social dynamics when a woman who returns home “different.” The writers, both queer women, look at journeys big and small and test the line between homecoming and invasion.

Emily Breeze, a Guilford native, is a lesbian playwright. Her works include the full-length plays Hallmark, Hedy, Fallout and Title Nine, as well as her one-act All My Dead Uncles, and a collection of short plays produced for the Fast & Furious and 7x7 programs at The Tank. She has developed work at The Sheen Center, Judson Memorial, The Tank, Vassar College and Long Wharf Theatre. She is a current Dairy Hollow writer-in-residence, a former Long Wharf Theatre Artistic Resident and former Hot Bread Writer-in-Residence. Sha has a B.A. from Vassar College and is a proud GHSTA alum. (emilybreeze.net)

Marialena DiFabbio. Marialena is a composer, lyricist and sound designer. She has created and developed work at the Weston Playhouse, NYMF, Redhouse Arts Center, The Brick, CoHo Playhouse, SheNYC Arts Festival and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. She wrote music for the podcast The Quaranzine and for two short films, 8 Million is the Loneliest Number and Hacker Fairies. She sings with the band Bears of Alaska and is a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. (marialenadifabbio.com)

Jessica Slaght is a New York City-based director and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She’s an alumnus of the Paul A. Kaplan Theatre Management Program in Artistic Producing at Manhattan Theatre Club and has developed work with The Tank, NYU, The Bushwick Starr, The Gallery Players and Manhattan Rep. She currently calls The Public Theater home, where she supports Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.