Laura Standley/Director, Veronique is Professor of Theatre at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). She holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA in Acting from University of California, Irvine. An actor, director, choreographer, and sound designer based in the Berkshires, she played Veronique in Ground UP’s staged reading of Treaty last year in NYC. Recent collaborations include Release and Repair, two original devised works created in collaboration with 2nd Street, Second Chances in Pittsfield, MA, and based on the stories of the formerly incarcerated individuals they work with. Laura teaches a wide variety of courses, including all levels of acting and directing. She is a trained intimacy choreographer who advocates for new, safer methods of staging intimate scenes. She started her directing career with Ground UP, where she collaborated on The Shape of Things (starring Kate and Seth!), Burn This, Lobby Hero, and Pump Boys and Dinettes. For Oklahoma Shakespeare, her production of Kate Hammill’s Sense and Sensibility won Broadway World’s honor for Best Ensemble. As an actor, she has been fortunate to perform with many companies including HERE Arts Center, Shakespeare Theatre New Jersey, Shakespeare Orange County, Long Beach Playhouse, and Oklahoma Shakespeare. Favorite roles include Electra in Electra, Gertrude in Hamlet, and The Witch in Into the Woods. Laura is fascinated with the theatre experience. Her goal is to create dynamic, movement-based performance for the stage that impacts the common good.