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Last updated 27th March 2023

Laura is an award winning theatre maker and researcher. She is artistic director for the Deaf and hearing theatre company Equal Voices Arts. For the past 8 years Laura has been based in Aotearoa New Zealand, where she convened the Theatre Studies programme at the University of Waikato. 

Her research is in the area of inclusive theatre practice and psychophycial performance training. She examines, explores and creates sites of cross cultural and cross linguistic exchange, devising original theatre productions that are accessible to both Deaf and hearing audiences. 

Laura's other areas of expertise are psychophysical training for performers and embodied mindfulness practices. What binds her work in these areas is a focus on how to improve psychophysical fluency for diverse performers to better communicate on stage to diverse audiences. 

Laura has recently been awarded a Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship from the European Commission to work with the University of Huddersfield. The fellowship will enable Laura to design, develop and test the efficacy of an accessible embodied mindfulness training programme for D/deaf and hearing actors through an exploration of mindfulness practices which focus on the body. The role of the physiological mechanisms which underpin awareness and which are instrumental in the development of mindfulness will also be examined.