Previous Productions:
Below is a list of a few of the productions I have been involved in over the last couple of years. For more information on previous productions, view my acting resume or feel free to email me at me@ericamclaughlin.com.
 

July 2008- OM: Objects in Motion performed to rave reviews in this year's 2008 Capital Fireworks Puppet Fest! The festival was presented by the Puppeteers of America.

"OM" is a collaboration between puppet director Colette Searls and choreographer Doug Hamby: a funky variety show where characters spring from garbage bags, plastic wrap, and recycled paper to unleash their inner groove in vignettes of whimsy.  In short episodes, OM transfigures the ordinary with a collage of music ranging from Mozart to Jazz to Hip Hop. Exploring the unexpected, lyrical and humorous, OM puts four puppeteers trained in modern dance behind and amoung the animated objects to explode physical boundaries.

OM was originally developed and  presented at UMBC in September 2005.

OM is called "innovative and brilliant"- http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php?action=printpage;topic=3415.0

http://www.puppetfest2008.org/shows/index.html
http://puppets.searls.com

June 2008- Emerging Artist Theatre presents Laugh Out Loud! a collection of puppetry, clowning, and solo comedy acts at the Roy Arias Theatre Center, New York, NY. Erica presented an original puppetry piece called "Emergency Use Only".

Four droning strangers are stuck in a subway tunnel when inspiration strikes: they put their personal effects together an a puppet eager to dance merges to breathe life into an otherwise hapless situation. Featuring Krysta Gonzalez, Christopher Harris, Mandy Nicole Moore, and Erica McLaughlin.

http://productions.eatheatre.org/listing.php?id=55

For more about my puppet work, or to have me do a workshop for you, visit www.ericamclaughlin.com/puppetry.

February 2008- Cold April, by John P. McEneny, is named "Best Play" in the 2008 Winter Strawberry One-Act play festival! Twice a year, hundreds of plays from across the country are submitted for the competition, of which 40 are chosen to compete. Plays move from the 1st round to the semi-finals and then the finals. The playwright of the winning play receives a grant and the opportunity to have a full-length play developed by the Riant.

About the play
The play, Cold April, is set in 1994 Rwanda and was written and directed by John P. McEneny. It was inspired by the true story of the girls of St. Maria Goretti School in Muramba, who stood up to the Hutu militia and refused to hand over their Tutsi classmates.  They were all slaughtered. I played Mosi, the lead character, a Hutu, who gives her own life to protest the killing of the girls at the school when it is attacked by a Hutu soldier.

I also had the honor of receiving a festival nomination for "Best Actress in a Play" for my performance of Mosi in Cold April. Other Nominations: Sean Phillips, "Best Actor in a Play" for the Man, John P. McEneny, "Best Director", Cold April.

Missed my performance? You can view it online at http://www.therianttheatre.com/video/.

 

The Oracle

May 2007-Erica performs as a puppeteer and one half of a gabby two-headed worm in the African folktale, The Oracle with the African Continuum Theatre Company at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC.

This world premiere by Ed Shockey was directed by Jennifer Nelson, and featured Erika Rose, Jewel Robinson, Erica McLaughlin and Alex Perez. The story was told by actors and beautifully designed puppets by Marie Schneggenberger.

About The Oracle:
Charlotte, a spirited young African princess sets out on a journey to discover the source of father's power. Along the way she is assisted by a series of magical characters. Her adventures take her over land and sea, through servitude and slavery before she returns to her ancestral home with new understanding of her place in the world.

http://www.africancontinuumtheatre.com/

 

a midsummer night's dream

March 2007- Erica joins the cast of a Midsummer Night's Dream at Liberty Showcase Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland as "Snug, a Joiner" one of the bard's famous rude mechanicals.

Midsummer is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays and is widely performed across the world. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors in a moonlit forest, and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit it and Duke of the Athenians. Comedy ensues!

Ask Samuel Pepys who saw it on Sept. 29, 1662, and thought it "The most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw...."
 

www.libertyshowcasetheatre.org

 

Body and sold

March 2007- The Unmentionable Theatre Company presents a staged reading of Body and Sold, a new documentary play by Deborah Lake Fortson, which is part of a coast-to-coast campaign to end the sex trafficking of American children and teens. It is a staged reading that will be held in cities all over the country throughout the month of March. 90% of proceeds from the readings go to charity and the remaining 10% goes back to Tempest Productions, the company that helped put the play on its feet. For more information about the play and the campaign, please visit the Tempest Productions website

See what the Boston Herald had to say about Body and Sold (PDF, 391 kb)

Learn more about youth sex trafficking with the Body and Sold Outreach Flyer (PDF, 44 kb)

Erica McLaughlin's play, Love and Wood played to full audiences at the Inagural Capital Fringe Festival, 2006.
 
Love and Wood takes its notes from a complicated jazz melody. The play’s unconventional form is just as unpredictable as the characters, and along with its overlapping dialogue and interwoven scenes, Love and Wood presents an exciting new twist to the girl meets boy scenario.

Decide for yourself which is better: Procreation or Conversation? Making friends or making babies? Everlasting love, or long lasting sex? Love and Wood leaves nothing off boundaries in this fresh, modern original work by Erica Lauren McLaughlin. The original prudction featured David "Spence" Baston, James Macon Grant, and Kelly Sinnott.

For more production info, or for info on Performance rights visit:www.ericamclaughlin.com/loveandwood
Production Photos, Script, Press Release    or email me@ericamclaughlin.com.