Upper and Senior Camp sat on the floor of the theater, falling silent as Bunk 8A’s lip sync dance commenced. The music to Travis Scott’s Fe!n began, and there was a plethora of excited cheers. But these cheers were nothing compared to the roars that erupted from the crowd as soon as counselor Fabi Rihl began to dance his heart out, starting with a center stage back handspring. Fabi attributes his remarkable lip sync performance to two habits of his, one of which is listening to “Fe!n” on repeat. “I have also watched Tom Holland’s lip sync battle [to the song ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna] a few too many times,” he confessed.
Fabi Rihl is a new counselor at WriCampia this year, and the story of how he came to be here is completely unique. Fabi, who recently graduated from the University of Michigan and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre with a minor in musical theatre composition, found WriCampia on the Playbill website while searching for job opportunities. He said, “I chose to apply to this job because I love writing and theater. Besides acting, my other passion is working with kids. This camp com bines my two favorite things.”
Fabi has drawn attention from campers this year due to his effervescent personality and triple-threat talents that shine through his counseling at Page 2 Stage, his out-of-this-world dance moves, and his famous “Gay and European” t-shirt.
For Fabi, Page 2 Stage has been a magical part of camp. Fabi said, “When I heard for the first time about Page 2 Stage, I was like … how? But when I came in here, all of the sudden we wrote a full plot, wrote music, and put it on stage.”
At Page 2 Stage, Fabi has particularly enjoyed playing the piano—a skill he began to learn in 4th grade—and helping the librettists by encouraging them to make their songs more “actionable” by building in stage cues to convey plot and emotions.
Besides Page 2 Stage, Fabi has been able to showcase his talents at camp through the WriCampia dance and the Upper and Senior Camp lip sync battle. At both events, Fabi’s outstanding dancing caught everyone’s attention. Fabi shared how much he enjoyed the WriCampia dance in particular: “I said ‘I have to commit to this,’ and danced like I haven’t danced in a really long time.”
In terms of the lip sync battle, Bunk 8A’s dance to a mash-up of “Fe!n” by Travis Scott and “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, was largely Fabi and counselor Brandon G.’s idea. Fabi explained that he always finds it funny when straight boys try to act stereotypically gay, and his bunk of mostly straight boys agreed. Together, they chose a song and choreographed it.
Fabi’s dance moves are not the only thing that has made him famous among WriCampians. His iconic “Gay and European” t-shirt has commanded a lot of attention and curiosity. “In the musical theater department at UMich, the senior class welcomes the freshmen class [by taking] existing songs from musicals and changing the lyrics to make it fit the UMich experience. In our production, we used the song ‘Bend and Snap’ from Legally Blonde the Musical. I wore the ‘Gay and European’ shirt for this tradition—since I am both gay and European—and to this day it’s a shirt that I wear all the time and it’s super fun.”
Now that Fabi has graduated, he is working hard to become a star. In fact, while at camp, Fabi filmed several self tapes for big-time acting jobs. This includes one for the Water for Elephants national tour, one for the SHUCKED national tour, and one for an original theater production of The Producers. Alongside his hustle to make it as an actor, Fabi is also finding his place here at WriCampia: “I’m hoping to get my start here on Broadway, but if I get to keep doing jobs like this, that would be great too because I love kids and especially teaching them theater.”
WriCampia has long been a place for people to fall in love with the broader Writopia community. This summer, one new member of WriCampia staff has been energized and motivated by the talent and drive of everyone here. “My favorite part is the people I met here—the counselors and kids. At the end of every day when I head to my bunk, I’m so inspired by everything that everyone has accomplished in a day, from filming a movie to writing a newspaper. I’ve found myself very inspired here.”
