Happy homecoming: Actress and Lake Zurich native Laura Coover is right where she belongs - on stage
One of Laura Coover's fondest, most enduring childhood memories was attending a production of “A Christmas Carol” with her parents when she was 4 years old.
After the performance, she and her folks went backstage where she met two performers who played dancing dolls in the show. Informing them she would join them onstage the next year, she insisted, “I'm like you.”
That experience sealed her career.
“Since then it's been the only thing I could see myself doing,” said the Lake Zurich native, who co-stars in Griffin Theatre's Chicago premiere of “Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle.”
“I felt this is where I'm supposed to be,” said Coover, who as a child acted out scenes from movies and made VHS films with her three older brothers. She attended drama camp and participated in as many school productions as possible.
“Over time I realized I'm more drawn to straight theater, TV and film,” said Coover, whose credits include productions with Writers, Remy Bumppo, Goodman, Eclipse and American Blues theaters, among others, as well as roles on TV's “Mike & Molly” and “Castle.”
To work again in Chicago and to visit family members who still live in the suburbs was an opportunity that was impossible to resist.
“Chicago theater culture has a certain kind of integrity, an artistic integrity I haven't been able to find in L.A.,” she said. “There's a sense of community and a sense of pride in the work for its own sake, not as a means to an end.”
That and the reputation of Griffin Theatre, a Joseph Jefferson Award-winning ensemble now in its 35th year.
“I really appreciate that they make bold choices and take risks with the productions they choose,” she said referring to “Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle,” a two-hander by Simon Stephens (“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”).
Coover plays Georgie opposite Scott Anderson's Alex in the play about a chance meeting that leads to a May-December romance. It centers on human connection and the possibilities that unfold as a result of opening yourself up to another person, Coover said.
Playing Georgie has been a challenge.
“She does some things and says some things that are hard to defend,” Coover said.
“This particular play is very spare in its use of props and scenery,” she said. “It's really all about the relationship. There's nothing to hide behind and nothing to get in the way of it, which is beautiful and kind of scary.”
Coover says working on TV and films has made her a better theater actor. But, while she says it's satisfying to have a body of work that doesn't disappear when the lights go down, there's something special about live theater.
“There's something incredibly sacred about being in a space with an audience and hearing them breathe,” she said. “That kind of intimacy is really special. There's nothing like it.”
“Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday through March 26. No 3 p.m. performance Feb. 26
Where: Griffin Theatre at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago, (773) 338-2177, griffintheatre.com
Tickets: $30, $40
COVID-19 precautions: Masks required