Laura Ekstrand Brings LOSING MY RELIGION to United Solo Festival

Losing My Religion, a solo show written and performed by Laura Ekstrand, will be presented as a part of the United Solo Festival on March 9 at 7:00 pm at Theatre Row Theatre at 410 West 42nd Street, NYC. The play is directed by Jason Szamreta, with lights and sound by Zach Pizza.

The Annual United Solo Festival, the world's largest solo theatre festival, presents a selection of local and international productions including storytelling, puppetry, dance, multimedia, improv, stand-up, magic, musical, and drama. Since its inaugural year in 2010, United Solo has featured more than 1,000 productions from all over the world. In 2021, United Solo launched a new virtual platform (United Solo SCREEN) to present shows for its global audience and theatre enthusiasts.

Losing My Religion is a highly personal solo play in which a woman takes us from her childhood as an observant Catholic to the present day, when she is decidedly...not. Her father's death makes her realize how much easier religion would make dealing with this loss, and just about everything else, if only she had it.

With humor and brutal honesty, but also with compassion, she looks more closely at how the Catholic church shaped her family history. We meet Sister Janice, Saint Cecilia, Pontius Pilate, friends and boyfriends, and all manner of acquaintances and relatives who played a role in her journey. By mapping significant turning points, she reaches a better understanding of how stepping into her own life required stepping away from the church. Ultimately, she can see more clearly how she got from there to here, and what might fill the empty space that's left after losing her religion.

Playwright and actor Laura Ekstrand is the founder and artistic director of Vivid Stage in Summit, NJ. She is an actor, director, playwright and teacher who has appeared on stages and screens for over 30 years. As an actor, Laura appeared at Vivid Stage in Water in My Hands, Be Here Now, The Lucky Ones, What Stays; Sister Play; Motherhood Out Loud; and Shakespeare in Vegas, among many others, and is a member of the Flip Side improv comedy team. She has worked at many other New Jersey Theatres including the Bickford Theatre, Centenary Stage, Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage, Passage Theater, Pushcart Players, The Theater Project, 12 Miles West. In New York, Laura has appeared at Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and New Georges.

Her film credits include American Zombieland, Split Ends, High Art, I Shot Andy Warhol. Laura's television experience includes Hack, Sex And The City, Law & Order, and The Guiding Light. As a director, some projects include Twirl, Dead and Buried, Every Brilliant Thing, The How and the Why, Next Fall, Distracted, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Melancholy Play, Pride's Crossing, Full Bloom and many others. Laura has directed the dramatic podcasts The Weirdness and Young Ben Franklin for Gen Z Media. As a playwright, full lengths include Life's Work, What Stays (with Jason Szamreta), Whatever Will Be, The Neighborhood (Book and Lyrics; Music by Joe Zawila), Brink of Life (Book; Lyrics by Steve Harper; Music by Oliver Lake) and Astonishment, How to be Old: A Beginner's Guide, and At Ninety-Three (Adaptations).

Laura is a private monologue coach and holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Laura is the Chair of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance Board of Trustees and a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild. She is represented by DDO Artists NYC.

Losing My Religion will appear at Theatre Row Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC on March 9 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $40, and can be purchased at https://unitedsolo.org/the-annual-united-solo-theatre-festival-spring-2023/losing-my-religion/.

For more information on the United Solo Festival, go to: www.unitedsolo.org. For more information on Laura Ekstrand, go to: www.lauraekstrand.com

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