Our new Associate Artistic Director Laura Kepley will be starting on September 1st. To welcome Laura into the Play House family and learn more about her, we asked a few intriguing questions.
Q: How did you get your start in theatre?
A: It all started with a fourth grade camp production of Hansel and Gretel in which I was cast as Hansel. At first I was upset and confused by this “gender-blind” casting but quickly got over the fact that I didn’t get to wear a dress as soon as I discovered that Hansel got to be smart and make choices that drove the action. I was hooked! I continued acting in school productions as I was blessed to go to a public middle school and high school that had solid arts programs. Things started getting serious when I took classes at The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and then went on to study at Northwestern University.
Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career in theatre?
A: A career in theatre combines all of my passions and interests: storytelling, history, politics, literature, art, psychology, sociology, civics, religion/spirituality, games, puzzles, and travel. Theatre is the exploration of humanity in 3-D, which helps me to connect to and perceive the world more fully. And it is a collaborative art form – while my ego might want to be recognized as a brilliant auteur, my best self firmly believes in “the group genius,” the idea that when we come together to create we are greater than our individual selves. It is this idea of being in service to something greater than myself that inspires and invigorates me. And let’s face it, in spite of all the producing struggles and backstage dramas, making theatre is incredible fun.
Q: What is your favorite part about directing a show?
A: I truly enjoy every part of the process from script analysis to conceptualization to casting to technical rehearsals. The best moments are when the impossible becomes possible. When through hard work, happy accident or just dumb luck the play reveals itself in ways we had never even imagined. The hardest part of directing is waking up the morning after the play opens and realizing that your part of the work is done.
Q: Why do you think theatre is important to society?
A: Theatre is a community’s way of experiencing the most serious, terrifying, and gut-wrecking life events that a human can face – without getting hurt. We don’t get hurt because an actor is standing in for us and taking all the hits. They live the crisis and we get to breathe with them and ask huge questions like “How far will I go in the pursuit of justice?” (Electra) “What is more important to me – my self respect or my children? (Medea) “Am I willing to die for my beliefs?” (Antigone) Theatre cultivates our empathetic response. We are required to walk in other people’s shoes, to see the world from multiple perspectives, to hear and relate to all sides of the argument. And best of all theatre is a public event – in our world of growing isolation, fragmentation, and “preference-driven self-selection,” the theatre is one of the last places that a group of people with diverse backgrounds and belief systems can come together for a focused and sustained period of time to contemplate, explore and debate what it means to be a human being.
Fun Facts:
1) On a Friday night, I can usually be found… at the theatre or watching High School football (another kind of theatre)
2) If I could star in any Broadway show, it would be… (show and role) George Berger in Hair Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch which is rumored to be coming to Broadway this season. (I still want to play the boy’s parts!)
3) My idea of the perfect vacation is…Laying on a sandy beach with my husband George, a trashy book, a margarita and nothing to do!
4) Secret/hidden talent?…Many people assume I can play golf because my Mother was such a great player – she won the Ohio Women’s State Amateur tournament – but that is not the case. Other than theatre I think my talents are deeply hidden and waiting to emerge. I wish I had a talent for cooking – so if anyone out there has that talent and lots of patience I would love to learn!
This or That questions:
