• Programming
• Leader of the Arts

Laura Cole

November, 2007

Director Of Education and Training, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Tavern

Laura is the Director of all Education programs at The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at the New American Shakespeare Tavern. These include K-12 playshop and residency programs, the professional Apprentice Company training program, text coaching the professional shows and administering ASC summer Shakespeare programs for students.

Laura decided on a career in acting when she performed her first Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for Athens (Georgia) Creative Theatre. She went on to perform many shows with ACT, and her high school drama department. Laura received her Bachelor’s of Science in Acting and Communications from Northwestern University. In addition to her training in classical theatre, while at NU she received the Young Choreographer’s Prize her senior year for her choreography work in the Dance Program under Lynne Blom and Susan Lee.

Laura has made her acting career performing professionally in Atlanta. She has worked as a professional actor for many companies, including The Academy Theatre, Actor’s Express, The Alliance Theatre, Art Attack, The Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Jewish Theatre Of The South, Theatre Gael, Theatre In The Square, 7 Stages and, of course, The Shakespeare Tavern. Major roles at the Tavern include Titania in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Katherine in Taming of the Shrew, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Viola in Twelfth Night, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Lady Percy and Doll Tearsheet in Henry IV, parts 1 & 2, Mistress Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Emilia in Othello, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, and Rosalind in As You Like It.

In addition, she has directed The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love’s Labors Lost for ASC. She will be directing the January 2008 production of Twelfth Night for the Tavern. She has also directed two student productions of Macbeth, and one production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Her specialized training in Shakespeare includes advanced work with Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA with Tina Packer, Dennis Krausnick, Kevin Coleman and Mary Hartman, among others. She is currently a Text Teacher in training with Shakespeare and Company.

As an Education Artist, Laura has taught Shakespeare and Acting to children and adults alike with Actor’s Toolbox Workshops, The Alliance Theatre, the company acting studio, Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia Shakespeare , Offshoot Productions and Kennesaw State University. She has been the Director of Education and Training with ASC for the past six years.

Laura is President of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts and an Individual Member of Theatre Communications Group. She is also the current Secretary of the board for the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America. In addition, she was a member of the 2005-2006 MAACC Arts Leadership Class and is a Founding Member of ALL-GA, a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy group working to strengthen arts and culture in Georgia.