LAURIE’s most recent play Beowulf In Afghanistan is now headed for the 2021 Ottawa Fringe. As we will still be in Pandemic mode, and in Ottawa, lockdown, rehearsals will take place on Zoom, with a final video taping May 30th. There are challenging times for anyone forging ahead with theatre, but with the truly remarkable Kate Smith, director at the helm Beowulf In Afghanistan has not only benefited from a workshop at Ottawa StoryTellers in November of 2020, but a lot of excellent work as we prepare for the Fringe. Checkout the Productions & Workshops Page to learn more about this new and exciting show.
The pandemic did impact on one significant production. Laurie’s 10-Minute Play Dammed made the cut for the 2021 Short & Sweet Theatre Festival in Sydney, Australia, however as the production dates loomed, Australia experienced another Covid wave and the festival was cancelled.
However, the pandemic did not stall work on Exciting Cause. In June of 2020, Laurie workshopped that play, again online, with Allison Burns, choreographer; Chelsea Passmore, dancer/actor; and Jacqui Du Toit, actor/dancer. A big thank you to the Ontario Arts Council and Ottawa’s TACTICS for supporting Exciting Cause.
In March of 2018, Laurie’s play Mirage: The Arabian Adventure of Gertrude Bell received a reading as part of Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival, and Being Helen received a workshop and public reading courtesy of the Ergo Pink Arts Festival.
From 2014 to 2017, Laurie was Managing Artistic Director of Ottawa StoryTellers (OST), where she adapted James Bartleman’s Raisin Wine (2014), and co-wrote A Winter Tale: The Journey of the Blind Harper (2015). Laurie’s was Artistic Director of Ottawa’s Evolution Theatre from 2016 to 2022. In 2017 Evolution premiered The Home Show at the Ottawa Fringe Festival. And in August of 2019, a further incarnation of The Home Show, Safe As Houses, was presented as a workshop at the Catalpa Cooperative.
Laurie’s acting credits include, Ava Wolfe in the Counterpoint Players production of Corpus, and France Brooke in The Secret Life of Emily/Frances, 2015 Fringe, which she also wrote. Both Corpus and The Secret Life of Emily/Frances were directed by Bronwyn Steinberg.
Laurie’s plays have been produced at the Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Blyth Festival, and Theatre Kingston. Her ten-minute play In Kabul premiered at New Theatre of Ottawa’s 2012 Short Play Festival and was subsequently produced at InspiraTo in Toronto, and the Short & Sweet Festival in Sydney, Australia. The Malaysia Hotel placed second in the 2003 Herman Voaden Competition.
Laurie received her MA in Theatre from the University of Ottawa (2010), and now teaches Scriptwriting for Actors at Algonquin College, School of Media Design.