Chicago theater scene suits Lake Zurich native

One of the reasons Chicago has such a great theater scene is that it attracts plenty of young actors each year, fresh out of college or graduate school and ready to try out their new wings. Take the case of Laura Coover, who plays Ophelia in the production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" currently running at the Writers' Theatre in Glencoe.

When she graduated from the University of Illinois' theater program in 2007, Coover could have moved from Urbana-Champaign to anywhere there are theater jobs: New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, even, conceivably, London. Instead Coover, who grew up in Lake Zurich, returned to the area she knew and liked.

"I moved to Chicago because I knew I wanted to be working right away," she says. "... I wanted to be an artist and be free - and not be struggling under the weight of all the challenges you are up against in New York or L.A."

Coover also admits being closer to home was a comfort, as is Chicago's more reasonable cost of living.

"I knew I would have more financial freedom here," she says. "And I know we have some of the most exciting non-equity theater in the country."

Coover's experiences in Chicago have lived up to her expectations. Since moving here she has worked with some of the city's better, smaller companies (Remy Bumppo, Eclipse Theatre Company), as well at The Goodman and Writers' Theatre (where she appeared last summer in "A Lion in Winter").

Not bad for someone who thought for a long time that she would grow up to be a singer. "I was very involved in the choir program and show choir at Lake Zurich High School," Coover says, "but I was also in most of the annual productions. We did a musical in the fall and a straight play in the spring."

When she graduated high school she was torn between singing and acting. "I auditioned for both the vocal program and theater program at U of I," Coover says. "I ended up doing acting and had a great experience in their acting program."

Coover continues to have great experiences in theater, most recently playing Ophelia in Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," a comic retelling of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" from the point of view of two minor characters.

"I have been preparing to play Ophelia for the last few years. I am drawn to Shakespeare and I love playing him but I have never played Ophelia in 'Hamlet,'" Coover says.

"Ophelia is kind of manic in the play," she says of Stoppard's version. "She comes in and out of the play and when she enters she just enters in the peak of emotion - guns blazing."

All this emotion seems very Chicago to Coover. "There is a kind of grit and rawness to Chicago," she says. "There is something workmanlike and bare bones about Chicago, and brave and exciting. I hope I never make Chicago seem like a steppingstone to other theater towns. It is a great place in its own right. The quality of productions here is excellent. And the style of theater here fits me."

• "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" runs through Dec. 6 at Writers' Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. For tickets, go the box office, 376 Park Ave., Glencoe, call (847) 242-6000 or go to writerstheatre.org.