ABOUT LAURA

An actor, director, dramaturg, and scholar, Laura Lodewyck earned an MFA in Acting from Roosevelt University and a PhD in Theatre & Drama from Northwestern University following her Communications & Theatre and Psychology BA double major from the University of Notre Dame.  She studied at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London under Education Director and Founder Patrick Spottiswoode, and is currently head of the Department of Theatre at North Central College, Naperville's University, where she has been on staff since 2015. 

 She holds a Midwest Chapter Emmy for her on-air work with the NBC 5 Street Team, and has produced and voiced traffic and news for multiple stations including WLIT-FM, KISS-FM, and WLS-FM. Other on-camera work includes a wide range of voice-overs, commercials, and industrials, as well as the WB’s The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, the indie film Voices From the Graves and 

NBC’s Chicago Med.

A founding ensemble member of Chicago Fusion Theatre/Wayward Productions, Laura has appeared on area stages including Chicago Shakespeare, Victory Gardens, Court Theatre, Illinois Theatre Center, Remy Bumppo, and Teatro Vista, with regional work at St. Louis’ Hothouse Theatre and New Jersey Shakespeare.

Laura’s research on the transformative power of theatre during times of war was awarded with an American Association of University Women (AAUW) fellowship. As a proudly half-Spanish performer, her scholarship has continued with projects dedicated to documenting Latine work, including Latinx Theatre Commons’ ‘El Fuego’ initiative and LTC's Wallace Implementation Grant. Other projects include scholarship on the veteran-based verbatim theatre 'The Telling Project', and writing with the University of Pennsylvania’s Humanities and Human Flourishing Project.  Her belief in the power of theatre to make change began with her time as a Program Assistant for Agnes Wilcox’s prison performing arts outreach 'The Hamlet Project’ at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific, Missouri.  

 Laura's production dramaturgy and directing work encompasses a variety of genres and styles, and she has 50+ hours of theatrical intimacy training to support her work with emerging college actors.

As an actor, I've loved performing in a variety of roles, starting with my childhood debut as an orphan in Annie with a St. Louis community theatre. I love ridiculous comedy and comedic on-camera roles (as my commercial work demonstrates), and plunging into serious roles of heightened language, whether Shakespeare or contemporary theatre or film. 

I am currently Chairperson and Coordinator of Acting for the Department of Theatre at North Central College, Naperville's University, where it is my joy and privilege to help shape future generations of theatre artists and to pass on my deep love of the art form, as well as the humor, absurdity, and delight of acting, and the possibility for theatre to work towards change.

As the parent of a Type 1 diabetic, I am involved in T1 advocacy (and disability and access for theatre in general). A superfan of the classic X-Files, I will still follow anything Gillian Anderson does, and love watching campy horror with my family.

 I am proudly represented by Lori Lins Ltd.