Hi! I'm Laura a writer, storyteller, and theatremaker.
Theatre is my temple, my religion, and my act of faith. Strangers sit in a room together and believe.
— Harvey Firestein
A Little About Me
Laura Thoma is a theatremaker originally from Tidewater, Virginia, whose work is published internationally. She started her career as a dancer and choreographer after a career-ending injury. She found her way back to her sacred space through writing.
Laura is a trauma-informed playwright. Her trauma has taught her many things. In her own words: “When one is shattered into a million pieces, finding, claiming, and reconnecting your whole self is a slow process. Writing is a similar journey— but instead of finding, you create each component, identify it, and question how it fits or connects to the whole.” She is a women-centric playwright who explores and tells stories of identity. Laura is fascinated with the complexity of labels: how they can be debilitating or empowering, depending on if they are being placed or claimed.
Laura has developed her work with Chicago Dramatists, Eden Prairie Players, Stage Door Theatre Company, Marist College, Drama Works Theatre, Cape May Stage, Chestnut Street Playhouse, the Blackstone Memorial Library, and The Legacy Theatre. She was a playwright in residence with the Pawling Theatre Exchange in June 2019, where she expanded her play Magpie from a one-act to a full-length.
Laura loves exploring writing in all forms. Her personal essays have been featured on many blogs, including Undeniable, Ink, on various podcasts, including Heart of the Story, and in several magazines, including Ruminate. Most recently, Laura’s monologue turned short film Me, Myself, and I has garnered awards around the globe from film festivals, including New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. She most recently had the Word Premiere of her play Magpie. And her short play Cafe Guru won an Honorable mention this year in the Reader’s Digest 91st Annual Writing Contest.
Laura is a member of AEA, The Playwrights Center, HonorRoll!, The Dramatist Guild, and The League of Professional Theatre Women, CT Chapter. She is also currently enrolled as a certificate student in The Dramatist Guilds Dramatic Writing Institute.
In her other creative life, Laura’s a Life Coach and Motivational Speaker. She lives on the shoreline of Connecticut with her bookish wife, Chris, and our dogs, Buddy Fitzwilliam and Beatrice Dashwood.
