There’s No Resting on This Laurel!

The multi-talented Laurel Stroud

There’s an old saying that goes, “You can take the girl out of the country, but you just can’t take the country out of the girl.”  And in this case, you just can’t keep her out of the Barn, either.   Try as she might, Laurel Stroud just can’t rest on her laurels.  There’s no keeping her away from the Farmington Players’ stage.

Fresh off her role as Laura Baker in Whose Wives Are They Anyway?, Laurel has jumped right back on the stage in Little Shop of Horrors.  She is in the chorus, plays a Skid Row bum, and a customer in the flower shop.  Her other “role” is gathering all the props.   Laurel sighed in relief when she said, “I'm glad we're renting the plant!”  Laurel came late to Little Shop, stepping up at the director’s request when another actor had to bow out.   As a Skid Row bum, she says, “I had to find my own bum ‘voice.’  We tried putting me on a scooter to roll around, but it took up too much space.  The other bums are great to play off of, so it's all worked out. It's a fun show, the cast is super-talented and I'm having a ball.”

Laurel loves chorus roles in musicals: “I get to dress up, sing, dance, be a couple of different people.  The chorus adds depth to the show.  No matter how great the leads are (and they are fabulous in this show) the entire performance is taken up a notch with the ‘background artists’.” Although she has loved theater since childhood and was back stage in high school and college, “it never occurred to me that being onstage was an option.  A friend invited me to join the Barn about 10 years ago and my first time onstage was in one of our spoofs.  I loved it and haven't looked back.”  In addition to Whose Wives, Laurel has graced the Barn stage as Catherine Dickens in A Christmas Carol, Mom in Leaving Iowa, Essie in You Can't Take It With You, and was a tap-dancing showgirl in The Producers.  Offstage, Laurel is a Board member and serves as Director of Communications and Education. 

Little Shop of Horrors runs from Friday April 27 through May 19.  Get your tickets at www.farmingtonplayers.org or by calling the Farmington Players box office at 248-553-2955.  Find us on Facebook under "Farmington Players".