Gaby Labotka [they/she/anything respectful] is a Puerto Rican-American, genderfluid multi-disciplinary theatre artist who works as an actor, director, intimacy director/coordinator, fight director, movement choreographer, and playwright across the country. They are a fierce advocate for respect, empathy, representation, inclusion, and safety in the theatre, and she is dedicated to making art that reflects those values. In 2024, they were a Nominee for the 3Arts Arts Award in Theater for their distinctive work and contributions to the creative field.
In Chicago, Gaby has worked with Definition Theatre, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Neo-Futurists, American Theater Company, The Gift, Shattered Globe, American Blues Theatre, The House Theatre of Chicago, Teatro Vista, First-Floor Theatre, Sideshow Theatre Company, Steep Theatre Company, Victory Gardens, and Babes with Blades among many other great, local companies. They have also worked on Broadway as the Intimacy Director for Paradise Square and at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Repertory Theatre St. Louis, and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, and enjoys traveling for work to teach and collaborate with artists across the country. Their intimacy coordination and stunt coordination has been featured in several films, including CHHAYA (2024) and After: A Love Story (2022).
Gaby received the first ever ALTA Award in 2018 for Outstanding Fight Choreography and/or Intimacy Design for their fight direction of A Story Told in Seven Fights. She was also nominated for their intimacy choreography for Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea; this award was significant in that it was the first award category specifically dedicated to recognizing the art of intimacy direction. They received the award a second time in 2019 for her work on La Ruta at Steppenwolf, and was nominated several times within this category for their Intimacy Direction and Fight Direction in productions across Chicago.
An emerging playwright, their play Rare Wolves is a Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist (2025), Goodman New Stages Semifinalist (2025-2026), and its first draft emerged from the University of Chicago’s Summer 2024 Chicago Performance Lab. Another of Gaby’s plays-in-development was also a Finalist for the inaugural Trans History Project, a revolutionary national initiative led by Baltimore Center Stage and Breaking the Binary Theatre, which aims to commission, develop, and publish new plays about the real history of gender non-conformity.
Gaby is an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and a Certified Intimacy Director/IDC Certification Pending Intimacy Coordinator with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators.
Training: Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Society of American Fight Directors, Pig Iron Advanced Performer Training, Illinois State University (BA, Acting and Directing with Exceptional Merit in the Arts).
When not making theatre, Gaby is training and playing with her dog, Parcha; connecting to her cultures; going on adventures with their Dungeons and Dragons parties; challenging herself at the gym; or is hopefully on a boat.
www.gabylabotka.com | @theatre_warrior