Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Stratford.
Laura, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was the little girl who ran around making up songs and playing out complex stories in my head, which turned into a deep love for theatre, especially musical theatre, and for stories of all kinds. I got an English degree rather than a theatre degree but spent summers as an acting apprentice at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and an intern at The Theatre Offensive, an LGBT theatre in Cambridge, MA.
The decision that changed my life came when my good friend asked me to help him write a musical in my senior year of college. We assembled a team of writers, performers, and artists, ran the room like we were writing for television, and in ten short weeks produced a brand new musical that played to standing-room-only crowds. What’s more, we discovered that we loved the process of producing together. I moved to Chicago after school and acted as a front scout, and as my collaborators graduated and as we gave the process of writing and staging new musicals another try in the Midwest Fringe Tour in 2010, we kept affirming our excitement for creating something new. In 2011, we founded Underscore Theatre Company, and over time pinpointed that we wanted our mission to be world premiere musicals.
I grew into my identity as a writer with every project we took on–full length musical, one-act, 60-minute Fringe show, commissioned work. I wrote lyrics, scenes, and melody lines for three full-length musicals and a one-act, then we took a commission for a musical intended for schools about an almost all-girls math team. We brought “The 57th National Mathlete Sum-It” to NYMF in 2017, and Theatrical Rights Worldwide published it in 2018. I’ve recently found a composer for my latest full-length project, and we have a reading slated for February,
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I write musicals, and with Underscore, produce world-premiere musicals. I’ve written a little of everything–lyrics, book, musical lines, although never full orchestrations–and I’ve directed, acted, costumed, and produced for theatre as well. Although I’m currently Artistic Director of Underscore, primarily I identify as a lyricist and librettist.
I’m a pretty words-first songwriter, although I will typically have a basic melodic structure in mind as I write lyrics. For libretto, which consists of character development, plot, thematic development, placement of songs, and dialogue, I work much better within an outline than writing blind. I’ll revise all the time as new ideas come to me or as I get feedback about whether or not what I have drafted is having the intended impact, but I do all of the detail work once I know the basic structure.
I believe that telling stories is the most inherently human thing we do and that combining music with the electric, present-moment environment of theatre is the most impactful way to tell stories of deep resonance. Narrative music has shaped my life, providing comfort, catharsis, and the recognition that I am not alone in the things I feel deeply. Just like myths hit a deeper truth by existing beyond literal fact, musical theatre gains power from not being entirely naturalistic. I hope I can have a fraction of the impact on audiences that the great musicals I have seen had on me.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
I have two feelings about how what is going on in the world impacts art and the role of artists, and they go in dramatically different directions.
The first is about how connected we are around the globe. An individual artist has the opportunity to make an impact around the entire world with the advent of the Internet, and we are seeing a great democratization occur, which challenges artists to try new things and hone their craft even more than previously. World events, cultural practices, and art from all around the world can influence an artist now, and I think that makes for stronger art. Plus, you always want your work to reach as many people as possible, and now that potential audience is billions, not just hundreds, thousands, or millions.
At the same time, there is so much art in the world that an individual artist can feel like their voice is drowned out. I’m certainly guilty of scrolling past an amazing photograph on Instagram, or half-listening to a masterful performance on YouTube, and then promptly moving on to the next thing without registering the effort put in. This is why I think creating real relationships with your community and individual audience members at a very local level is so important. There’s something to be said for being the storyteller of the village rather than the World’s Chief Artist. I believe it is worth creating live moments of connection, through art, with other people around you.
As for how local, national, or international events and issues affect my art, I’d ask, how could they not? Everything you put into the world filters through the prism of lived experience and audiences will find resonances you may never have intended because of what is happening in their lives. I don’t think all art has to be explicitly political, but in a world in which the personal is political and vice versa, I think what is happening in the world affects art greatly.
Do you have any events coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
As Artistic Director of Underscore Theatre Company, you can find our work and support the development and production of world-premiere musicals at www.underscoretheatre.org, or at our new home at Clark and Wilson Streets in Chicago. Our fifth annual Chicago Musical Theatre Festival opens February 4th, and offers nine festival productions as well as two staged readings. The readings include my latest project, “The Bone Harp,” with music by Heidi Joosten, this February during the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival (www.cmtf.org). Apart from that, check out my blog posts on NewMusicalTheatre.com, flip through Underscore’s YouTube channel for some of my songs, and follow me on Instagram (@lcstratford) and Twitter (@laurastratford).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.underscoretheatre.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lcstratford/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/underscoretheatre
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurastratford
Image Credit:
“Liberal Arts: The Musical” Amy Rapp & Wesley Dean Tucker, photo by Alex Higgin-Houser. “The Butcher’s Son,” Carolyn Plurad & Vi Tran, photo by Evan Hanover. “Haymarket,” Bridget Adams-King with (left to right) T.J. Anderson, Sarah Beth Tanner, Joey Harbert, Amanda Giles, Melanie Vitaterna and Mike Mazzocca, photo by Michael Brosilow. “Grind,” David Kornfeld & Maia Rodriguez, photo by Alex Higgin-Houser. “Numbers Nerds,” Madison Kauffman, Maisie Rose, Jhardon Milton, Danielle Davila, Hanah Rose Nardone, photo by Evan Hanover
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