Lauren Shouse

What We're Up Against

By Theresa Rebeck

Compass Theatre

Winter 2019

Set Design: Lauren Nigri. Costume Design: Izumi Inaba. Lighting Design: Becca Jeffords. Sound Design: Kevin O’Donell.

Photos by Michael Brosilow.

Highly Recommended! “Until our consciences re-awaken, though, Compass Theatre delivers a thrilling gladiatorial match, replete with intrigue, betrayals and double-crosses. Director Lauren Shouse has assembled a nimble cast featuring the formidable Echacka Agba, who delves Rebeck's occasional overly-broad characterizations for subtextual nuance ( watch her in a wordless moment by the water cooler ). Ted James, Denise Hoeflich and Jeff Kurysz likewise portray Rebeck's casualties-of-war with a light touch ultimately engaging our empathy, in sharp contrast with Charlie Strater's loathsomely solipsistic Stu. "Why do we still have to do it this way?" sighs Janice, as the women survey the carnage necessary to gain a seat at the table. Audiences in 2019 might want to ask, too.” — Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times.

Highly Recommended. “In this writer’s view, lesser hands managing this tie-it-up-with-a-bow type script could easily fumble. Director Lauren Shouse seems to know she has top tier talent to work with--- the casting choices—all-- seeming to be the first master stroke. Agba fans will not be disappointed. She creates her character so completely that by the end of her first scene we feel like we’ve known her for ages. How perfect that Shouse positions Agba in the shadows during many scene changes as an observer – where her high heeled boot physical presence alone dominates and tells us this is herstory unfolding. “ Amy Muncie, Picture This Post

Recommended! “Compass Theatre, a new Equity company making its debut with Rebeck's play, staged by Lauren Shouse, lands plenty of sharp jabs to the solar plexus. Rebeck shows how often women are undercut not by obvious sexual harassment, but by pernicious microaggressions and gaslighting.” — Kerry Reid , Chicago Reader

Highly recommended. “What We’re Up Against is artfully staged by director Lauren Shouse.The excellent cast and crew of this new company include many Chicago theater veterans, including Echaka Agba as Eliza, the ambitious architect; and Denise Hoeflich as Janice, her female colleague. Shouse guides the cast of five briskly through a series of scenes set in the offices and conference rooms of this firm. Rebeck’s script dramatizes women’s efforts for professional respect as they were in 1992 and—inexplicably—as they still often are today.” — Nancy Bishop, Third Coast Review.

Avenue Q

By Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty

Nashville Repertory Theatre - Fall 2018.

Cast: Sarah Aili, Megan Murphy Chambers, Bradley Gale, Natsuko Hirano, Jonah Jackson, Melinda Sewak, Sawyer Wallace

Music Direction by Jason Tucker, Set Design by Gary Hoff, Costume Design by June Kingsbury, Lighting Design by Darren Levin, Sound Design by Ned Singh, Props Design by Cassidy Parkison.

Broadway World Review: “Never before have audiences responded with such startling enthusiasm and thunderous applause to a Nashville Repertory Theatre opening night - at least in my memory and I've been reviewing shows at the Rep for 30 years now - than what I witnessed last night as Avenue Q kicked off the company's 2018-19 season in astonishingly irreverent style. Shouse directs the riotously funny and uproariously entertaining Avenue Q with imagination and wit (her deft updating of various pop culture references in the script land solidly among the audience who reward her efforts with deafening laughter and audible gasps), infusing the already terrific piece with more magical moments in which the audience becomes complicit in the story being told and the "acts" being performed onstage.” - Jeffrey Ellis

Out and About Nashville Review: “The Rep’s production of Avenue Q is a big hit! Now in its last week at TPAC, but if you’ve got the time it’s absolutely worth the time and money. The show has been around for a while, but this production has been updated to feature #MAGA racism and Trumpian extremists in its staging. Don’t be fooled by the puppets: yes the show is funny, but it’s also poignant and has a depth of insight into the condition of modern human beings in the world. And in the end, the kinder, gentler world-weary cynicism it presents just resonates.” — James Grady

Nashville Parent Magazine review: “Lauren Shouse’s expert direction coupled with the cast’s extreme talent results in a huge hit from start to finish. While the entire show will keep you in stitches, the night of inebriated debauchery that Kate and Princeton experience — “You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love)” — is definitely the most sensational side-splitting scene of the show. I mean, what’s funnier than drunk puppets getting it on? Go ahead and treat yourself to an extraordinary night of theatrical fun with Nashville Rep!” — Chad Young

The Cake

By Bekah Brunstetter

Rivendell Theatre 2018.

Cast: Tara Mallen, Keith Kupferer, Krystel McNeill, Tuckie White.

Set Design by Arnel Sanciano. Costume Design by Janice Pytel. Lighting Design by Cat Wilson. Sound Design by Shannon O’Neill.

Photos by Michael Brosilow.

Nominated for 2018 Joseph Jefferson Award for: Best Director, Best Production, Best Actor in a Principal role and Best Set Design.

Highly Recommended - “The play is sweet and never too blatantly sugary, and Della and Jen are both deeply true characters for whom Brunstetter has obvious kinship. And director Lauren Shouse guides the proceedings with the right delicate touch. The set, from designer Arnel Sanciano, is spot-on perfect, with the bakery looking absolutely real and even cake-like in its pink and white stripes, and wainscoting ingeniously disguising pull-out beds for the home-based scenes. And Mallen is a treat to watch, particularly in the moments when the play gets a bit fanciful.” — Steve Oxman, Chicago Sun Times

Highly Recommended - “The weighty social issues at play here, as well as the intimate relations between two couples, and the free-wheeling use of imagined moments, make this a complicated play to direct, but Lauren Shouse handles all of it deftly, keeping the action moving along briskly but allowing time for several silent emotional moments along the way without ever becoming heavy-handed. The performances she gets from all four actors are exemplary. She cues the audience in on changes in focus or entries into Della’s imagination through the use of the creative lighting by Cat Wilson and excellent sound design by Shannon Marie O’Neill. And that cupcake-perfect set, a clever and surprising design by Arnel Sanciano, is just golden.” —Karen Topham, Chicago On Stage

Highly Recommended - “Expect to laugh a lot, and marvel at Brunstetter’s ability to weave dreams and fantasies into her story in such a way that shouts – “Hey, we are all just humans, aren’t we?” This writer finds it difficult to imagine an actress better able than Tara Mallen to play Della. With her considerable personable charm—and ability to telegraph the roiling oceans of her inner life with morphing expressions as she listens to the booming voice of the baking contest reality show host— Mallen gives us a Della who instantly fixes in our mind as THE stereotype, and then deftly forces us to see her with more depth than we might otherwise muster on our own.” —Amy Munice, Picture This Post

Nice Girl

By Melissa Ross

Raven Theatre 2018.

Cast: Lynne Baker, Lucy Carapetyan, Stella Martin and Benjamin Sprunger.

Set Design by Lauren Nigri. Costume Design by Noel Huntzinger. Lighting Design by Becca Jeffords. Sound Design by Eric Backus.

Photos by Michael Brosilow.

Highly Recommended - "Nice Girl is a quiet story, but a hearty and fulfilling one. Ross’ script is simple but powerful, and poignant in a world where women are still fighting a seemingly never-ending battle for autonomy. As a 37-year-old single woman myself (albeit one with a very different life from Josephine’s), it was refreshing to see someone of my age, gender and social status represented not as a stereotype or a joke, but a living, breathing person. Thoughtfully directed and performed, Nice Girl may not blow you away, but it will leave you satisfied and humbled." --Lauren Whalen, Chicago Theatre Beat

Highly Recommended - "This sweetly knowing, open-hearted 2015 script is gently embraced by Lauren Shouse’s equally tough-loving Chicago premiere at Raven Theatre. As always, the best, as in the most wrenching, plays are not about “win-lose” outcomes between good versus evil. They’re about “lose-lose” choices between one good opposite another — love versus loyalty, freedom fighting duty, the past against the future. That’s the passionate payoff that follows two hours of Nice Girl. It’s well worth the wait." -- Larry Bommer, Stage and Cinema

Highly Recommended - "With that wide Raven stage, it’s easy to let a play get unfocused, but director Shouse is careful to keep things balanced, bringing out these stellar performances in her actors and never allowing a single moment to drag out. I’ve never felt that a two hour play passed so quickly. And a lovely “what will happen next?” ending (aided by the strong lighting of Becca Jeffords) leaves the audience walking out of the theatre talking about the future of the characters, pondering whether a “yes” will really be a “yes” and recognizing all of the times in our own lives when it was not." -- Karen Topham, Chicago Onstage

Highly Recommended - "The piece is beautifully constructed; every word counts. The direction feels effortless, but is in fact tautly controlled. Each personality is finely drawn and well portrayed. This play will take you on an emotional journey, and make you laugh along the way." -- Debra Davey, Splash Magazine

The Legend of Georgia McBride

By Matthew Lopez

Northlight Theatre 2017.

Cast: Sean Blake, Keith Kupferer, Jeff Kurysz, Nate Santana, Leslie Ann Sheppard.

Set Design by Jacqueline and Richard Penrod. Costume Design by Rachel Laritz. Lighting Design by J.R. Lederle. Sound Design by Kevin O'Donnell.

Photos by Michael Brosilow.

Highly Recommended - "Smoothly directed by Lauren Shouse, who uses the small open stage at Northlight to sheer perfection, this 105 minute (no intermission) play tells us a story that will make you think how an “outsider” ( defined as someone “different”) can bring people who are different together." -- Alan Bresloff, Around the Town Chicago

Highly Recommended - "Heart, sass, and spanx. In a show about drag, all are welcome in The Legend of Georgia McBride. So if you’re looking to escape for a few hours and see some truly bad wigs (in a hilariously good way), this show is for you. Just be prepared to laugh and secretly tap your foot to country music...even if you’re not crazy about country, your foot will be tapping." -- Sharon Krome, Picture this Post

Recommended - "The Legend of Georgia McBride is a play about drag queens. But somewhere in there it is also a play about life and how we live it. And it may not be perfect but it does happen to be wildly entertaining. The night I was there the crowd laughed extensively and left talking enthusiastically about the show. We critics can get picky, but the bottom line is that that is what it’s all about." -- Karen Topham, Chicago Onstage

Betrayal

By Harold Pinter

Raven Theatre 2016.

Cast: Abigail Boucher, Richard Cotovsky, Sam Guinan-Nyhart, Keith Neagle.

Set Design: Lauren Nigri. Costume Design: Stepahnie Cluggish. Lighting Design: Becca Jeffords. Sound Design: Kevin O' Donnell. Photos by Dean La Prairie.

Highly Recommended - "Lauren Shouse brings just the right chilly, razor-sharp edginess to the production, and her actors capture the tension, fatigue and devastation that so much lying (whether to themselves or others) can generate." - Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

Highly Recommended -- "Raven Theatre’s production, smartly directed by Lauren Shouse, shows why we consider Pinter a master of the nuances and sharp edges of personal relationships." - Nancy Bishop,

Highly Recommended! - "Lauren Shouse's sharp, slick direction seduces audiences with a female sensuality, so different from the usual male-directed productions. She strips away the artifice and romance of what it means to engage in an affair, with a feminine perspective. Scene changes are performed with a simple, deliberate, almost choreographed precision, blending beautifully with the scripted moments. This production is the perfect amalgamation of a classic script, a talented cast and a skilled, creative director and technical team. " - David McCann, Windy City Times

Highly Recommended - "The affair is a tangled, bruising mess; the telling of it, at Raven Theatre, is a thing of raw-boned beauty... The scene in which Robert confronts his wife with his chance discovery of her affair is the harrowing highlight of Raven’s production, as the rhetorically circling husband closes in on his prey and she, seeing the inevitability of the truth exposed, simply and vacantly confesses. It’s a directorial masterstroke and an exhilarating piece of acting by Boucher and Neagle." - Lawrence B. Johnson, Chicago on the Aisle

Rapture, Blister, Burn

By Gina Gionfriddo

Nashville Repertory Theatre 2015.

Cast: Amanda Card, Ruth Cordell, Shannon Hoppe, David Ian Lee, Cheryl White

Set Design: Gary Hoff. Costume Design: Trish Clark. Lighting Design: Phillip Franck. Props Design: Evelyn Thornhill. Photos by Harry Butler, Shane Burkeen and Phillip Franck.

"Director Lauren Shouse demonstrates an eye for detail and a gift for pacing, bringing Gionfriddo’s script to life with the help of an outstanding ensemble. With tantalizing wit and thought-provoking conflicts, “Rapture, Blister, Burn” provides a brilliant opening for The Rep’s 2015-16 season — don’t miss it." - Amy Stumphl, The Tennessean

"Directed with her characteristic flair by former Nashville Rep artistic associate Lauren Shouse (who returned to her local theatrical home, after several years in Chicago, to helm the production), Gionfriddo's astoundingly provocative play - which sounds and, perhaps more importantly, feels as if it is being created as you watch this sparkling and cracklingly intense production play out before you - is sure to spark conversation long after you leave the theatre." --Jeffrey Ellis, Broadway World

"Getting to deliver Gionfriddo’s thoughtful and often witty dialogue is a cadre of actors perfectly cast by director Lauren Shouse. Yes, I’m enraptured by “Rapture…” – fascinated by the ideas, illusions and illuminations in life that provide such rich grist for Gionfriddo’s mill. The marriage of her genius (a word that’s overused by reviewers like me but nevertheless accurate in this playwright’s case) with Nashville Rep’s Broadway-consistency professionalism makes this presentation an exceptionally strong beginning to the company’s 2015-16 season." -- Evans Donnell, Nashville Arts Critic

Rapture Blister Burn Shannon an d Ruth.jpg

Rapture Blister Burn Cheryl and David.jpg

In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play

By Sarah Ruhl

Northwestern University 2015.

Cast: Emma Cadd, Daniel Chenard, Cordelia Dewdney, Kees DeVos, Eddie Sanchez, Janice Theard, Eva Victor

Set Design: Lauren Nigri. Costume Design: Gabrielle Chabot. Lighting Design: Kaili Story. Photos by Justin Barbin and Lauren Nigri.

Superior Donuts

By Tracy Letts

Nashville Repertory Theatre 2012.

Cast: Jeremy Childs, David Compton, Elizabeth Davidson, Brandon Hirsh, Henry Haggard, Shelean Newman, Joe Robinson, Jon Royal, Brian Russell.

Set Design: Gary Hoff. Costume Design: Trish Clark. Lighting Design: Michael Barnett. Photos by Harry Butler.

Nashville Scene Best Ensemble 2012.

"Director Lauren Shouse has staged this engaging piece with a confidently rugged energy. The real strengths here are the roles and the actors who play them, and Shouse shepherds her cast with uniformly successful results. Superior Donuts is a worthy excursion through a big city's richness, and a thoughtful examination of the disappointments that can befall those banking on long-shot dreams." Martin Brady, Nashville Scene

Long Way Down

By Nate Eppler

3Ps Productions 2011. Cast: Rachel Agee, David Compton, Rebekah Durham, Jennifer Richmond.

Set Design: David Compton. Lighting Design: Katie Gant. Photos by Chris Bosen.

American Critics Association Steinberg Award semifinalist 2011.

Broadway World Nashville Best New Work 2011.

"After director Lauren Shouse's four superb actors had taken their bows and left the stage, the lights came up and the audience sat completely still. Riveted to their seats by the brilliantly told tale that had just played out before them, audience members quietly processed their thoughts, basking in the afterglow of what was, most certainly and without fear of exaggeration, one of the most important nights Nashville theater has ever seen." -- Jeffrey Ellis, Broadway World