Gina Faarup de Cochez
Text and photos : Winnie T. Sittón
Gina Faarup de Cochez was attracted to the arts as a young child. She showed an aptitude for painting, music, singing, and dance. She got involved in any artistic activity she could find, but she did not expect to make a career in the arts. She was just expressing her passion.
“We didn’t do theater at my school; we had declamation contests during Book Week. I always prepared something and I loved taking part. That’s where I discovered that I liked acting, because now I realize that it was just like preparing a monologue,” she remembers.
After finishing school in Panama, she headed to Philadelphia to study Finance and Business Administration at the University of Pennsylvania. She confesses that she would have liked to study something artistic at the same time, but it would have been very difficult. “Nonetheless, I never gave up on art. I always did whatever I could, even if it was only a little bit.”
After graduation, she was offered a job at the New York offices of J.P. Morgan. During her three years in the Big Apple, she forged connections to people in the city’s high-powered theater scene. “Seeing all those works and so many great actors and actresses was important to me; I gained a lot from it.”
She returned to Panama at the age of 25, determined to be part of the local theater scene. Over the course of several years, she wore many hats in theater production —from acting to choir to working in the wings— all while continuing her career in the corporate world. But one day she realized that she could no longer straddle the fence. Her heart told her to choose between a successful career in finance or taking on the challenge of devoting herself completely to her passion for the arts. “It was a tough decision, but I felt ready to take that step. That was in 2011 and I have been doing theater ever since.”
The last eight years of her life have been very intense. She has produced some fifteen works of musical theater and acted in four of them. “I love acting, singing, and dancing, but I don’t always get to do it. The role of producer is very demanding and it is difficult to produce theater in Panama. You have to give 100%.”
This year, she is adding two new works to her credits as a producer. One is the musical Snow White, which is being performed at the En Círculo Theater in Panama City until April 14. The other is Chicago, which will debut in September at the new Pacific Theater. She is also stepping into the world of cinema as co-producer of the film Todos cambiamos, by Panamanian filmmaker Arturo Montenegro, a family drama in which she acts in a supporting role. The film will hit Panamanian movie screens in the second half of the year.
