Listen to Laura Ekstrand's take on things and you'll hear from a classmate who has built a creative community. She was co-founder of Dreamcatcher Reparatory Theater (now, Vivid Stage) with Janet Sales in 1994. She has her own podcast, Local with Laura Ekstrand, and an impressive body of work, which you can read about on her website: https://www.lauraekstrand.com/

She has appeared at Dreamcatcher in Be Here Now, The Lucky Ones, What Stays; Sister Play; Rapture, Blister Burn; Motherhood Out Loud, and Shakespeare in Vegas, among many others, and is a member of The Flip Side improv comedy troupe. New Jersey Theatre: Bickford Theatre, Passage Theater, 12 Miles West, The Theater Project, Luna Stage, and the Pushcart Players. New York Theatre: Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and New Georges. Film: Fat Ass Zombies; Split Ends, High Art and I Shot Andy Warhol. Television: Hack, Sex And The City, Law & Order, and The Guiding Light. As a director: Dead and Buried, Every Brilliant Thing, The How and the Why, Things Being What They Are, Next Fall, Distracted, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Melancholy Play, Pride’s Crossing, Full Bloom and many others. Podcast directing: The Weirdness and Young Ben Franklin for Gen Z Media. As a playwright: What Stays (with Jason Szamreta), Whatever Will Be, The Neighborhood (Book and Lyrics; Music by Joe Zawila), Brink of Life (Book; Lyrics by Steve Harper; Music by Oliver Lake) and Astonishment, How to be Old: A Beginner’s Guide, and At Ninety-Three (Adaptations). Laura is a private monologue and public speaking coach and holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Laura is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild.