Abbie Fine

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Abbie Fine is a storyteller and nonprofit manager from Northern Virginia. THE LAST FIRST DAUGTHER is her first novel, but she has directed more than 20 professional theatre productions. Abbie added writing as a storytelling outlet in 2013 and hasn’t looked back.

 

Abbie works full-time as a Director at Elevate. Elevate is a nonprofit consulting firm offering grant writing and strategic fundraising services to nonprofit organizations. As a Director, Abbie leads teams and strategy to guide clients in their grant programs.

 

Abbie enjoys going to theatre, traveling—especially in the single engine airplane her husband pilots—hiking, teaching management, and of course, reading. She is an obsessive reader of fiction, particularly young adult fiction. 

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You can learn more on Abbie's home page, resume, gallery, projects or blog. Please check out her Facebook author page.

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Longer Version

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My love for storytelling, performing arts, and directing started at a young age. I would turn any raised surface into a stage (“Watch me, Mommy!”) and I directed my younger sister in games and shows all the time. Thank you, Sister, for allowing me to start my directing career early. Thank you, Parents, for watching many, many “shows.”

 

I started in the performing arts through dance at an semi-professional studio which also gave us voice and acting lessons (tap dance is/was my specialty). I blame my excellent high school theatre teacher for making me fall in love with theatre. I loved all subjects in school, but I found theatre/storytelling to be the most challenging and most exciting—there’s no one right answer, after all. Plus, I loved collaboration from the beginning.

 

I went to the University of South Carolina on a full academic scholarship—yay saving money for post-undergrad years of unpaid internships! I got a double major in theatre and economics and spent all my free time in the theatre: some acting, but mostly stage managing, assistant directing and directing.

 

​​After undergrad I decided to pursue directing and got an equivalent of an MFA in directing by assisting some fabulous directors at regional theatres. I LOVED it. Except I realized that I was not only interested in each individual show I worked on—I was also interested the theatre companies and their relationships to their communities. I started working in arts leadership positions, realized I wanted to learn so much more so I got my MBA at George Mason University, and that brings me to today.

 

I’m a writer, director, manager, teacher, communicator, fundraiser and library-lover living in the DC suburbs, Virginia side. I fundraise for a library system during the day, and do all the creative things in the evenings and weekends (and sometimes on lunch breaks!). I direct a couple plays a year at professional, non-union theatre companies. I teach Principles of Management to undergrads. I write fiction and I read obsessively.

 

I like to be busy. I don’t know much about television shows. I think gifs are awesome, but they’re not my style. I love cooking but I hate making time to cook—I could be writing! 

 

​​Interests: Books, theatre, Shakespeare, aviation, hiking, traveling, yoga, snowmobiling, tap dancing, management/ leadership/ entrepreneurship and cozy coffee shops.

 

Some Favorite Books: The Golden Compass, The Scorpio Races, Six of Crows, I’ll Give You the Sun, A Darker Shade of Magic, Wolf by Wolf, Strange the Dreamer, Ender’s Game, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept.

 

My writing

 

I’ve been storytelling for 18 years as a theatre director, and writing fiction (since 2013) has felt like a natural extension. When I’m not collaborating with artists in a rehearsal room, I do my storytelling in a different way: writing. I think my experience as a director is a strength in my writing.

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I have three manuscripts and you can read more about them here.

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