←Recommendations of STAFF RETREAT

This is such a delightful dark comedy about the systemic issues inherent in non-profit organizations. It's funny and truthful and satiric. I could not put it down. The opportunities for staging are wonderful (and the stage directions made me laugh out loud).

An extraordinary look at a corroded, yet familiar Art Instituion. Femia swirls delicate, painful truths through rich dialogue and excruciating confrontation. An essential play for the moment, please please please produce this play.

The community of national & local readers for the 44th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival enthusiastically recommends STAFF RETREAT as a Semi-Finalist this season at Playwrights Foundation out of 755 plays. We were deeply moved by the playwright’s profound investigation of the power dynamics, microaggressions, and white privilege that, though talked about, are rarely meaningfully addressed in the workplace. We're compelled by the play's promise, as it explores nonprofit spaces with comedy, heart, and unflinching candor, written with strong evidence of craft. We hope this play is widely read, finds dedicated collaborators, and moves swiftly towards production. #BAPF2021

This play is so well written. The flow and intricacies of the dialog matched with the power of the theme make this an unforgettable experience. Playwright Femia makes each character distinct, and keeps you guessing what will happen until the end. I particularly like the clever use of the setting, both the physical place and the idea of a staff retreat, both used to full effect. Great job!

Oh my gosh, THIS PLAY! It is so funny (even the stage directions!) and then it will turn on a dime and be all of a sudden sad or touching. I love love love the dialogue. Everyone speaks like a real human, in sentence fragments, with stops and restarts. (Also, as someone with celiac disease, I appreciated the running bit about there not being gluten-free options on the retreat, because there NEVER ARE. They say there will be, and there never are.) I absolutely adored this and can't wait to read more of Gina Femia's work!

I was lucky to come across STAFF RETREAT as a reader for Playwrights Foundation's #BAPF2021 and was pulled right in by the play's humor and heart. Gina Femia explores the power structures within the nonprofit industry, and the human impact left by an all-too-common lack of genuine support and understanding, through the voices of some truly funny and truly human characters who felt like my actual coworkers by the end of the play. I was so impressed with Femia's beautifully observed and crafted dialogue, and I can't wait to see this play onstage someday soon.

I love this play! Anyone who has ever had co-workers and who has worked in an office setting of some kind will find something to connect to. The complex, nuanced, and comprehensive way Gina Femia explores sexism, racism, macro and micro-aggressive behavior, white privilege and blindness, virtue signaling, and so much more is so very impressive. Femia is a master of subtle, microscopically-focused, observational naturalism. The dialogue is spectacular as is simply the specific selection of moments chosen to highlight. The ending is so satisfying and hopeful while being devoid of cliche. Beautiful!

Had the pleasure of being involved in a developmental reading of this play. Think "Circle Mirror Transformation" for the 9-5 set, a story of the connections even people who see each other every day can still make with each other...or mess up completely.

I picked this up and couldn't stop reading- the tension and the comedy kept me moving forward. Happens to be pretty timely right now, move quick.