Laura Jones Macknin is a Chicago-based, LA-leaning actor who begins her bio with the pedestrian observation that she fell in love with theatre at an early age. But really, I did.
I grew up with mom’s stories of Canadian repertory theatre and making films in old Montreal and William Shatner for God’s sake. What’s not to love? My first theatrical experience is a vivid memory (age five): A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Goodman. While there is a very real possibility this memory was driven more by be-feathered fairy costumes than iambic pentameter, still: love at first view.
Years of actual performance in “semi-professional children’s theatre” (Ado Annie! a blond Tuptim!! Snoopy!!) and Chicago commercial work followed. College (University of Chicago, BA and MA) was an academic retreat, but Some Wounds go Too Deep and the Siren Call of Theatre Cast her Deadly Lure.
So. For the past 15 years I have worked on Chicago stages with such companies as Bailiwick, City Lit, Court, The Goodman, New American Theatre, Next, Oak Park Festival, Seanachai, Shakespeare-on-the-Green, Stage Left and Victory Gardens. Roles have included many of Shakespeare's bad girls, a couple of good ones, one princess and one highwaywoman. I have also been privileged to help develop new works for the stage, including plays by Coby Goss, Mia McCullough, Penny Penniston and my very dear friend Ann Noble. And – no Chicago Theatre experience is complete without it – I was (still am, actually) the artistic director of one of those Chicago black box theatre companies (Shakespeare’s Motley Crew). This is the stuff of legend and if I ever write an actual biography the stories will be blood-curdling (food poisoning, pregnancy and ghosts in King John, road flares / stage on fire in Duchess of Malfi, costumes on fire in Comedy of Errors, Lycra for King Lear…).
With the on-set of adulthood (the joining of the unions) my work has taken me farther afield – to VO work, film projects and in fact, LA. I am lucky to have a day job and friends’ spare bedrooms that allow me to work in the place of my choosing. Of late, I have been spending a lot of time in LA – and just might be a wee bit smitten. I recently completed an indie short in Malibu with Scott Thompson and Leigh McCloskey (currently making the festival rounds) and am at work on a couple of webisodes with those comedic geniuses Tom Patrick and Ann Noble.
When not on friends’ couches in LA, I can be found in Ravenswood, Chicago with my very beloved William Sidney Parker and as many cats as Sid will allow.
Also, I am a regular commentator in the comments section of Wonkette. Also.
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2669689/
