I spent my 20s as a Broadway singer & tap dancer. I worked with some of Broadway's legends, tap danced in cowboy boots, and performed at the Kennedy Center, the Guthrie Theatre, Broadway’s Palace and Lunt-Fontanne Theatres.

Then, I swapped dancing shoes for hiking boots & became a park ranger for the National Park Service. I gave interpretive talks about desert ecology, tundra flowers, & female adventurers & served as an EMT atop Trail Ridge Road.

A masters degree in directing from New Zealand’s Toi Whakaari Drama School and Victoria University gave me the opportunity to travel and work with a diverse group of collaborators to make a short documentaies, films and radio stories, all while interning with the New Zealand Film and Sundance Film Festivals. All this led to directing gigs with fashion shows, short film, theatre, literary festivals & plein air painting competitions.

And, then I returned to performing. Life’s funny that way.

I enjoy going for big things and learning new skills, and I especially love working with a group of wonderful people to make the world a better, kinder, funnier place. I have a wild variety of interests and aim to keep that going.

My greatest joy (other than snorkeling with stingrays in the Caribbean or watching the sunset in the desert) is doing fantastic work and making people feel that life is sweet, precious and rich.

P.S. You're more than welcome to call me Laurel, but my family and closest friends shorten it to Laurie. 

Broadway

& National Tour

Education

Master of Theatre Arts MTA in Directing , Victoria University, Toi Whakaari National Drama School of New Zealand

Bachelor of Fine Arts BFA in Music Theatre , College of Santa Fe

Certified Arts Administrator Utah Arts Council

Change Leader Utah Arts & Museums

Creative Shakespeare for Teachers Utah Shakespeare Festival

Acting with Uta Hagen HB Studios, NYC

Improv & Storytelling

People’s Improv Theatre, NY

Dallas Comedy House, TX

Second City, Chicago

Camera & Voiceover

Commercials Kevin Howard, Kina Bale Reed

VO Sara Sherman, Karen Strassman,CJ Critt, Bob Michaels, Gail Cronauer, Brian Pappas

Movement

Yoga and meditation practice since 2000. Teachers: Matthew Sanford, Christina Sell, Noah Maze, John Friend, Jeanie Manchester and more

Crestone College of Structural Integration / Guild of Structural Integration, human anatomy & Structural Integration

Other Theatre

Casa Manana, TX

Amphibian Stage, TX

Stage West, TX

WaterTower Theatre, TX

MainStage Irving, TX

Kennedy Center, Washington DC

Guthrie Theatre, MN

Seaside Repertory Theatre, FL

Greer Gerson Theatre, NM