Laura Ekstrand

Laura Ekstrand

Laura Ekstrand is founder/Artistic Director of Vivid Stage, formerly Dreamcatcher Rep, in Summit, NJ. Laura’s plays have been produced at Vivid Stage, NJ Rep, Luna Stage, Mile Square Theatre, and Creative Place Theatre. Full-length plays include Life’s Work, A Certain Age, What Stays (with Jason Szamreta), Whatever Will Be, The Neighborhood (Book and Lyrics; Music by Joe Zawila), Brink of Life (Book; Lyrics by...
Laura Ekstrand is founder/Artistic Director of Vivid Stage, formerly Dreamcatcher Rep, in Summit, NJ. Laura’s plays have been produced at Vivid Stage, NJ Rep, Luna Stage, Mile Square Theatre, and Creative Place Theatre. Full-length plays include Life’s Work, A Certain Age, What Stays (with Jason Szamreta), Whatever Will Be, The Neighborhood (Book and Lyrics; Music by Joe Zawila), Brink of Life (Book; Lyrics by Steve Harper; Music by Oliver Lake) and Astonishment, How to be Old: A Beginner’s Guide, and At Ninety-Three (Adaptations). Short plays include Horoscope, Bob, Stung, Moment of Truth, June Asserts Herself, and others. As an actor, she has appeared in NJ at Vivid, Bickford Theatre, Passage Theater, 12 Miles West, The Theater Project, Luna Stage, and Pushcart Players. In New York: Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and New Georges. Film: Split Ends, High Art and I Shot Andy Warhol. Television: Hack, Sex And The City, Law & Order, and The Guiding Light. As a director: Dead and Buried, The How and the Why, Next Fall, Distracted, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Melancholy Play, Pride’s Crossing and Full Bloom. She holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Member: AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild.

Plays

  • Life's Work by Laura Ekstrand
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: career, adult relationships + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: career, adult relationships, interracial couples, finding one's purpose
    Chip suddenly decides to quit his law firm, the job that has been keeping his household
    with Lynn and their daughter afloat for years. He feels it’s time for him to explore a
    future in which he has the luxury of being fulfilled by his work. Lynn has just revived her
    business as an interior designer after a long hiatus during which she was the primary
    caregiver, and is knocked off...
    Chip suddenly decides to quit his law firm, the job that has been keeping his household
    with Lynn and their daughter afloat for years. He feels it’s time for him to explore a
    future in which he has the luxury of being fulfilled by his work. Lynn has just revived her
    business as an interior designer after a long hiatus during which she was the primary
    caregiver, and is knocked off balance by Chip’s sudden and unilateral decision.
    Shelly, a barista, connects with Chip as she navigates her deteriorating relationship with
    Eduardo, a restaurant manager. While Ed would like Shelly to sideline her artistic
    aspirations, Shelly increasingly feels that she needs someone who supports her
    photography career. The roles of work and money intertwine with emotional demands in
    the characters’ relationships as they discover what it takes for a partnership to survive
    when its rules shift and evolve.
  • A Certain Age by Laura Ekstrand
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, immersive
    ·
    Keyword: women, aging + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, immersive
    Keyword: women, aging, sisterhood, menopause
    A Certain Age uses direct address and audience interaction to bring to life the odd, confusing and sometimes hilarious experience of turning from young to old as a woman today. The four actors in the play search for a way to understand the changes happening in their bodies, minds and lives by drawing on input from the audience and messages from the media and culture at large. Ultimately, they find that...
    A Certain Age uses direct address and audience interaction to bring to life the odd, confusing and sometimes hilarious experience of turning from young to old as a woman today. The four actors in the play search for a way to understand the changes happening in their bodies, minds and lives by drawing on input from the audience and messages from the media and culture at large. Ultimately, they find that generosity and grace, both for ourselves and each other, provide a way through this period of life.
  • What Stays (co-author, Jason Szamreta) by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: family, Transition + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: family, Transition, older parent, coming out, secrets, LGBTQ
    Dorothy has two days to finish packing up the family home and move to a new condo, so she’s called in her adult children to help with the task. When several unexpected visitors show up as well, the job becomes even more complicated. What they don’t know is that in the course of their visit, she plans to reveal to them something that she’s kept hidden for decades. What she doesn’t know is that nearly everyone in...
    Dorothy has two days to finish packing up the family home and move to a new condo, so she’s called in her adult children to help with the task. When several unexpected visitors show up as well, the job becomes even more complicated. What they don’t know is that in the course of their visit, she plans to reveal to them something that she’s kept hidden for decades. What she doesn’t know is that nearly everyone in the house has secrets of their own. Ultimately, the family will discover the cost of hiding the truth and the cost of telling it. Together they’ll decide what stays with them and what will be left behind. (co-author, Jason Szamreta)
  • The Neighborhood (book and lyrics) by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, musical
    ·
    Keyword: neighbors, Relationships + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, musical
    Keyword: neighbors, Relationships, pastiche
    In this comedic musical play, the residents of a modern American suburb traverse the odd relationships between neighbors. Scenes, monologues and songs delve into the perils of house-hunting, tolerating your neighbors' garish holiday decorations, competitive parenting, and other challenges. If you're not quite strangers and not quite friends, what does being neighbors mean? (Music by Joe Zawila )
  • Y3K by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Y3K, science fiction + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, fantasy, science fiction
    Keyword: Y3K, science fiction, romance, existential questioning, gender non-specific, future
    A ten-minute play about work, love and the meaning of life. It's minutes before the turn of the next century, and two security workers wonder whether the world is about to end. Is their job really essential? How should they be spending their precious time on earth? And is there a purpose beyond the confines of their current existence that they should be diving into?
  • Bob by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Ten-Minute Play, small cast
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Ten-Minute Play, small cast
    A ten-minute comedy. Two New Yorkers on the verge of a breakup arrive home to discover Bob, a freelancer who has fallen asleep while completing a task at their house. As Bob inserts himself into their conversation, he clumsily helps to bring it to a resolution.
  • Stung by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    In this ten-minute play, two people meet at a farmers market who are resolved to change the way they have relationships. A simple transaction turns into a conversation that nudges them toward a new way forward.
  • Moment of Truth by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: affirmative action, Race
    Genre: comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: affirmative action, Race
    Two best friends, seniors in high school who are receiving their college admissions responses, confront the role of race in the process and in their relationship. The play takes a look at how people who care about each other can have one of the most difficult conversations before us today.
  • Horoscope by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: BIPOC characters, pandemic + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: BIPOC characters, pandemic, racism
    In this 30-minute play, three seemingly disparate neighbors in a Brooklyn apartment building find a way to connect, even at a distance, even during a pandemic.
  • A Christmas Match by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, holiday + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Christmas holiday, holiday comedy + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, holiday, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Christmas holiday, holiday comedy, holiday, awkward romance, comic romance, budding romance
    Shortly before Christmas, Kris and Holly are on a date they arranged through an online service. Kris has hinted that there are some special circumstances he’s dealing with, and Holly is intrigued. Will they make him more or less attractive to her? And is Holly ready for the huge life change that this relationship would bring?
  • Katherine at Christmas by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: christmas, divorce + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, holiday
    Keyword: christmas, divorce, loneliness, comedy, holiday, forgiveness, friendship, middle age
    It’s Christmas Eve, and Katherine awaits a visit from her ex-husband, William. He
    comes, offering nostalgia and a bid for forgiveness in the form of a green bean
    casserole. Having recently separated from his girlfriend, William is feeling lonely and
    wondering whether there’s an opportunity for reconnection of some kind. Katherine is
    protective of her hard-won healing and independence...
    It’s Christmas Eve, and Katherine awaits a visit from her ex-husband, William. He
    comes, offering nostalgia and a bid for forgiveness in the form of a green bean
    casserole. Having recently separated from his girlfriend, William is feeling lonely and
    wondering whether there’s an opportunity for reconnection of some kind. Katherine is
    protective of her hard-won healing and independence, and isn’t looking for the same
    thing. But considering the absence of their son and the loneliness that Christmas can
    bring, they tiptoe toward a new friendship.
  • Not Ready by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: college, Relationships
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: college, Relationships
    In this one-minute play, two people discover they have conflicting views about what will happen to their relationship after college graduation.
  • Catching Some Air by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    Genre: comedy
    In this one-minute comedy, a yoga student demonstrates the limits of his understanding of what the practice is all about.
  • At 93 by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3–12
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: aging
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, drama
    Keyword: aging
    AT 93 is a new adaptation of the poetry of Jan Slepian, who continued to publish her work until her recent passing at 95 years of age. Her latest books of poetry, Jellybeans in Space and The Other Shoe, are shaped into a theatrical experience performed by a cast of three veteran actresses. This is a rare and vivid peek into the colorful life of an elder artist who has a lot to say about the experience of...
    AT 93 is a new adaptation of the poetry of Jan Slepian, who continued to publish her work until her recent passing at 95 years of age. Her latest books of poetry, Jellybeans in Space and The Other Shoe, are shaped into a theatrical experience performed by a cast of three veteran actresses. This is a rare and vivid peek into the colorful life of an elder artist who has a lot to say about the experience of looking back, looking forward, and looking around her.
  • How to be Old: A Beginner's Guide by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    3–12
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: aging
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, drama
    Keyword: aging
    The second in the series of reflections on the later years adapted from the writing of Jan Slepian, this play takes us through a step-by-step lesson on how to navigate the sometimes tricky journey through an enlightened old age. Like its predecessor Astonishment, the play includes lighthearted ruminations on the difficulty of such ordinary routines as getting in and out of cars, mastering technology, and...
    The second in the series of reflections on the later years adapted from the writing of Jan Slepian, this play takes us through a step-by-step lesson on how to navigate the sometimes tricky journey through an enlightened old age. Like its predecessor Astonishment, the play includes lighthearted ruminations on the difficulty of such ordinary routines as getting in and out of cars, mastering technology, and finding matching socks. Also explored are the heartbreak of losing a spouse and the pleasure of remembering street games and penny candy, among many other topics.
  • Astonishment by Laura Ekstrand
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3–12
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: aging, getting older
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, drama
    Keyword: aging, getting older
    Audiences have been enjoying this clever exploration of aging with humor and grace since 2011. Adapted from a book of essays written by nonagenarian Jan Slepian, this play is performed by three actresses who bring to life the experience of getting older, from the ridiculous to the sublime.