Upcoming Directing Work
Rhode Island College
MARIAN, OR THE TRUE TALE OF ROBIN HOOD by Adam Szymkowicz
Casting is through the current students at RIC.
Reverie Theatre Group
THE HEIDI CHRONICLES by Wendy Wasserstein
Auditions to happen in August or September. More information coming soon!
Current Assisting Work
Rhode Island Latino Arts & Trinity Rep’s Teatro en el Verano:
¡Que Diablos , Fausto?!
Directed by Armando Rivera
Adapted by Jesús Valles
From the play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
Past Directing Work
(Full Length)
The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew López
Location: Burbage Theatre Company in Pawtucket, RI
Performances: May 22-June 8, 2025
https://www.burbagetheatre.org/georgiamcbride
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director: Gia Yarn
Stage Manager: Devra Levy
Assistant Stage Managers: Sonny Wong, EJ Caraveo
Technical Director: Andrew Iacovelli
Set Design: Grey Rung
Lighting Design: Trevor Elliot
Props/Assistant Technical Director: Brittany Costello
Costumes, Wigs & Choreography: Aaron Blanck
Make-Up: Stephen Millis
Intimacy Coordinator: JB Benzinger
Marketing: Gabrielle McCauley
Producer: Jeff Church
CAST
Casey: Michael Yussef Green
Miss Tracy Mills: Anthony DeRose
Rexy/Jason: Omar Laguerre-Lewis
Jo: Sabrina Youn
Eddie: Brien Lang
Special Thanks: Brien Lang, Matthew Requintina, Gabrielle McCauley, Kristopher Laliberte, Amanda Downing Carey & Trinity Rep, Maurice Collins & The Wild Colonial, Gem Marley & The Haus of Codec, RISCA, The City of Pawtucket, Mayor Donald R. Grebien, The Pawtucket Foundation, Jess Hill, Tony Estrella & The Gamm Theatre, University of Rhode Island, Trevor Elliot and Providence College
I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick
Location: The Players at Barker Playhouse in Providence, RI
Performances: January 31-February 2 and February 7-9, 2025
Production Team:
Director: Gia Yarn
Stage Manager: Olivia M. Sahlin
Assistant Stage Manager: Cheryl Adams
Set: Dan Clement
Lighting: Ron Allen
Sound: Terry Shea
Costumes: Rebecca Kilcline
Props: Alexis Wilner
Fight Choreographer: Rachel Beauregard
Intimacy Choreographer: JB/Jenna Benzinger
Producer: Roger Lemelin
Cast:
Andrew Rally: David Sackal
John Barrymore: Tim Bric
Deirdre: Rebecca Bernardo-Hartley
Gary: Ramon Hernandez
Felicia: Kira Santos
Lillian: Carole Collins
Special thanks to: Ralph Stokes, Kevin Thibault, Jim Beauregard and Trinity Repertory Company
The Two-Character Play by Tennessee Williams
A group of local theatre artists, with the help of Providence Arts, Culture, and Tourism, have teamed up to mount this production, dedicated to the RI theatre community and in honor of local grassroots organizations and frontline workers who offer mental health aid.
Location: Bill Hutchinson Theatre @ Matthewson Church, 134 Mathewson St, Providence, RI 02903
Performances: August 2, 3, 9 & 10, 2024
Producer: Megan Ruggiero, Dillon Medina, Kelly Robertson
Director: Gia Yarn
Actors: Dillon Medina, Kelly Robertson
Co-Stage Manager: Evie Dumont
Co-Stage Manager/Understudy: Kelli Noonan
Fight Choreography: Rachel Beauregard
Set Design: Tiago Rodrigues
Light Design: Thomas Edwards
Sound Design: Brittany Costello
Photographer: Marisa Lenardson
Set/Prop Shop: Trinity Rep, Burbage Theatre Co, Gamm Theatre, Reverie Theatre Group, Vault, Inc
Sponsors: Providence ACT, Reverie Theater Group
Partners: 134 Collaborative
Community Partners & Resources: Moms Demand Action, Better Lives RI, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
photo by Marisa Lendardson
Past Directing Work
(Festivals, Staged Readings)
Boston Theater Marathon XXVII, May 4, 2025
Producer: Trinity Repertory Company
Play: License and Registration
Playwright: Ethan Mandile
Director: Gia Yarn
Props: Tiago Pereira
Costumes: Connor Goins
Actors: Molly Donovan, Matt Desorcy
Location: Boston Theater Marathon XXVII
presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University
Date: May 4, 2025, 6PM Block
Information: https://www.bostonplaywrights.org/boston-theater-marathon
The Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University
Workshop Presentation of “Linda Rae” from Longing to Tell by Tricia Rose
Adapted by: Akua Naru
Artists: Akua Naru, Chloe Ovbiagele, Osiris Russell-Delano, Navaiya Williams (pictured below)
Dates: November 11-12, 2024
Churchill House, 155 Angell Street, Providence, RI
Boston Theater Marathon XXVI at Boston Playwrights' Theatre -
Boston University
Wolfman and Janice by John Manderdino
Director: Gia Yarn
Stage Managers: Ania Briscoe, Gabriela López Ruiz
Frank/Wolfman: Rodney Witherspoon II
Jancie: Nina Giselle
Mrs. Krapilowsi: Lynne Collinson
A special thank you to both the Boston Theater Marathon XXVI team and Trinity Rep's Costume, Prop, Production and Artistic shops and offices.
Performance: May 5, 2024
About:
The Boston Theater Marathon XXVI features 50 ten-minute plays written by New England playwrights and presented by New England theatre companies which donate their time and talent to this annual event. Net proceeds are gifted to the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund, which helps area theatre artists and companies in crisis. The Theatre Community Benevolent Fund's (TCBF) mission is to provide financial relief in a confidential, respectful manner to individual theatre practitioners of Greater Boston and the surrounding areas, facing occurrences of a catastrophic nature including but not limited to extreme illness, devastating acts of nature, housing emergencies, vandalism, and theft, and who have limited or no resources with which to handle such events. TCBF recognizes the essential value of artists and arts organizations to society, and treats all applicants with dignity, discretion, and compassion.
The Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University
The Providence Garden Blues: A Salon
Written by George Houston Bass
Reimagined by Dr. Lisa Biggs
Directed by Gia Yarn
Musical Direction: Akua Naru and Becky Bass ‘13
November 16, 2023 @ 7:00pm
Churchill House, 155 Angell Street, Providence, RI
A celebration and staged reading of “The Providence Garden Blues,” a 1970s play written by George Houston Bass, reimagined by Lisa Biggs. Based on true events drawn from oral histories with local seniors, “The Providence Garden Blues” recounts one Black family’s fight to stop the destruction of their home on the city’s historic Eastside.
PAST ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR WORK
Trinity Repertory Company
A Christmas Carol
Directed and adapted by Tatyana-Marie Carlo
Adapted from the novella by Charles Dickens
Original music by Richard Cumming
November 23 – December 29, 2024
show art by Nikki Leite
PAST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR WORK
Fat Ham by James Ijames
Directed by Don Mays
Location: Wilbury Theatre Group
Performances: March 27-April 13
Burbage Theatre Company
The Motherfucker with the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Jackie Davis
May 30-June 16, 2024
The Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University
The Providence Garden Blues directed by Eunice Ferreira
Written by George Houston Bass
Reimagined by Lisa Biggs, Assistant Professor | Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre
Featuring original music by Akua Naru and Becky Bass '13
May 23 and May 25, 2024
Trinity Repertory Company
A Christmas Carol
Directed and Adapted by Stephen Thorne
Adapted from the novella by Charles Dickens
Original Music by Richard Cumming
November 9 – December 31, 2023
show art by Nikki Leite
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Directed by Curt Columbus
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
May 25 - July 2, 2023
show art by Nikki Leite
Sueño by José Rivera
Adapted from Calderón de la Barca's Life Is a Dream
Directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo
April 7 – May 6, 2022
photo by Mark Turek, cast of Sueño
EDUCATIONAL
DIRECTING WORK
Write Here! Write Now! at Trinity Rep
About: New England High school students are invited to submit an original short play (approx. 6-10 pages) and winners are celebrated at a festival of staged readings featuring professional actors. Each winner receives a scholarship towards Young Actor Studio after-school classes, and 20 free tickets to a Project Discovery student matinee for the upcoming season.
www.trinityrep.com/education/children-teens/write-here-write-now
photo by Caoilfhionn Farrell
2025
AUDITION FOR THE APOCALYPSE by Lina Durfee
The Wheeler School
Directed by Gia Yarn
Dramaturgy by Am Wycko
Stage Manager: Claire Thompson
Lighting Design: Caoilfhionn Farrell
Sound Design: Erin Grafing
Props Design: Alexis Wilner
Costume Design: Connor Goin
Cast:
Alexis Elisa Macedo, Ashley Soto, Jess Cooke, Liam Roberts, Mamadou Toure, Luyuan Nathan, Rob Cope, and Taylor Goodrich
photo by Kris Laliberte
2024
Again and Again – Chloë Hein – Framingham High School, Framingham, MA
Actors: Brad Delzer, Daniel Perkins
photo by Marisa Lendarson
2023
The Dragon’s Crown – William Derby – Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts, Pawtucket, RI
Actors: Jenna Benzinger, Nina Giselle
2022
An Unwritten Love Story – Tosin George - Cranston High School East, Cranston, RI
Actors: Michael Hisamoto, Rebecca-Anne Whittaker