Laura McClain
Actor/Singer
Production History
June 2018: Ragtime cleaned up at the 44th annual Joseph Jefferson Awards! The show was the most-nominated production of the 2017-2018 season with 10 nominations across every major musical category, taking home wins for Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Ensemble and Best Production. I was really grateful to be nominated in the new, inclusive Leading Performer in a Musical category alongside two of my wonderful castmates. Alas, I am 0 for 4, but that's all good - it really is an honor just to be nominated!
July 2017: Ragtime was a thrilling experience. We performed the new chamber version of this beautiful show for sold-out houses and rapturous reviews (see the "press" page) and extended our run. We even met writer Stephen Flaherty! I was truly an honor to get to work with an incredible group of artists and I'll always be tremendously grateful for the experience.
January 2017: The wonderful people of Writers Theater offered our Passion cast a staged concert on January 23, after the cancellation of the fall 2016 production (with a different company, it's an interesting story). We performed in their beautiful space and were so grateful for the opportunity! Class act all around.
October 2016: Adding Machine was nominated for Best Midsize Musical at the 2016 Equity Jeff Awards! We were up against some stiff competition and so excited to be there. We performed at the ceremony, which was awesome - I hope we freaked out some people.
May 2016: Adding Machine was a HUGE success. We had a great time bringing this crazy show back to Chicago, and received fantastic reviews by every major outlet in town (check 'em out on the press page!). It was arguably the most difficult show any of us ever worked on (I hope I never have to count in 5/8 again) and so gratifying to get the response that we did. The show was nominated for Best Midsize Musical at the 2016 Equity Jeff Awards and we performed at the ceremony, which was super exciting.
December 2015: New headshots, new headshots, new headshots! And it only took seven years! Thanks, Chris Popio for making me look a little less derpy than usual! Check 'em out on the "Gallery" page.
December 2015: I had a great time covering Martha and Phoebe in the House Theatre's annual production of The Nutcracker! It's such a beautiful show and I was lucky enough to perform as both a mom and a rat on Thanksgiving weekend.
July 2015: I understudied the roles of Nancy and Grace in Windy City Playhouse's production of Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight. As is the tradition of me and understudying, I ended up going on for both tracks. Exciting AND scary!
June 2015: I played the role of Ann, a math genius (ha!) in the Music Theatre Company's reading presentation of Mill Girls, a new original musical by Samantha Beach with a score by Diana Lawrence.
June 2015: Titanic and The Full Monty were nominated for Best Musical at the 2015 Joseph Jeffeson Awards! Titanic also received a nomination for Best Ensemble, which is absolutely fantastic. We got to perform at the ceremony and it was so great to be reunited with this incredible group. Hooray for theater prom!
April 2015: I spent two really fun nights at the Den theater in Wicker Park working on this annual event - more than a hundred actors performed more than 90 one-minute plays, which is pretty awesome.
April 2015: The Full Monty was a blast! We had a super-successful, frequently sold out run and fantastic audiences. The cast was so hilarious, talented and brave, and our production team was stellar. We also got a Jeff nomination for Best Musical, woo-hoo! Thanks to everyone who came out to see the show!
December 2014: Titanic was a remarkable experience. I'm so proud to have been part of such a wonderful production with a gorgeous cast and brilliant creative team. I'm only sad we didn't run forever. Check out some very nice comments on the "Press" page and some very beautiful images in "Gallery." The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times included us in their "Best of 2014" lists, and the show received six Jeff nominations. Sail on!
June 2014: I was really excited to receive a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Supporting Actress in a Musical for Griffin's 2013 production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I'm so proud of the show, which was selected as one of Kerry Reid's (the Chicago Tribune) Top 5 Productions of 2013. My wonderful fellow actors Charlotte Mae Ellison and Daniel Desmarais were also nominated. Hooray!
April 2014: The Hypocrites' production of Into the Woods was a total blast. I had a wonderful time with the funniest, most talented cast and production team, and can now say I learned a Sondheim show in three days and lived to tell the tale!