LAURA THOMA

Updated 11/8/2023
​Laura Thoma is a trauma-informed, queer, "late bloomer” playwright and theatremaker originally from Tidewater, Virginia, whose work is published internationally. Laura began her artistic career as a dancer and choreographer, dancing with people like Fernando Bujones and at places like The White House. As a choreographer, she worked with The Second City and innumerable regional theatres throughout the country. Laura was an adjunct musical theatre professor at both Columbia College and Roosevelt University in Chicago. After she suffered a career-ending injury, it was through playwriting that she eventually and gratefully found her way back to her sacred place, the theatre. Laura is an alum of the Desert Playwrights Retreat in Palm Springs, a retreat for LGBTQIA playwrights as well as the National Playwrights Symposium and the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. During the pandemic, she wrote and directed amonolouge turned short film, Me, Myself, and I starring Broadway veteran Erin Stoddard that has garnered 18 awards from short film festivals around the globe, including London, Paris, and New York. Laura has developed her work with The Bechdel Group, GreenStage Guilford Live Arts Festival, Drama Works Theatre, Cape May Stage, Legacy Theatre, Chicago Dramatist, Chestnut Street Playhouse, Marist College, Drama Works, Stage Door Theatre, The Blackstone Library and Theatre Odyssey. She is a member of HonorRoll!, AEA, The League of Professional Theatre Women - CT Chapter, The Dramatist Guild and The Playwrights Circle. Laura lives on the Connecticut Shoreline with her bookish wife, Chris, and their two dogs, Buddy Fitzwilliam and Beatrice Dashwood.

MORE ABOUT ME
When I'm writing, my favorite thing to do is to take the time to discover the process needed and called for by the project. I love encouraging and creating the daily practice I will use when writing each particular play. Sometimes, it's about outlining, sometimes it's about capturing the visuals I see. Sometimes it's about creating a playlist or finding the ideal ASMR to use when writing. It's always about having my tea at the perfect temperature. Thank you, fancy electric tea mug! I love working on multiple projects in a day, and each having its specific process allows me to flow from play to screenplay to novel to play!

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
I'm working on my first ever Christmas play. I'm adapting a play of mine into a screenplay and I'm revising a novel.

KEYWORDS
Lesbian,  Queer, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Family, Children, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, Political, Nature, Animals, Food, People of Color, Equality, Pandemic, Climate, Environmental, Historical, Adaptations, Fable/folktales, Immersive/site- specific, satire, biography, fantasy, science fiction, radio plays, verse, musical, horrors, period, Young Audiences, farce, holiday
​
​