Natalie Lurowist is an actor/singer/educator from outside Boston, Massachusetts. She recently graduated from the MFA Acting Program at the University of Iowa, where she worked closely with new playwrights, seasoned faculty, visiting artists, student collaborators, and members of the Iowa City and Chicago theatre communities. While studying acting, voice, movement, and more, Natalie played roles in over ten professional and academic theatre productions, four on-camera productions, and nine play readings. She also had the life-changing opportunity to teach acting to undergraduates for three years, in which she directed students in devised solo pieces and contemporary scenes, culminating in a Festival of Scenes each semester. Prior to graduating, she completed an MFA Thesis on her acting process, and participation in her third and final Iowa New Play Festival (an annually-occurring magical week of new work).
Following showcases in Chicago and New York, Natalie signed exclusively with NV Talent Agency and moved to Chicago with her fiancé, actor/educator Eli Jolley. They were joined by an Australian Shepherd puppy named Sasha, who promptly won their hearts and took over their lives. However, last summer Natalie reclaimed her time by co-directing "Shelter," a new play co-produced by The Navigators, a New York-based feminist science fiction theatre company, and Chicago's Otherworld Theatre in Lakeview. Currently, she is assistant directing "Kiss of the Spider Woman" at Northwestern University. Based on the 1976 novel, Manuel Puig's play is an intimate and impactful tale of persecution that juxtaposes gritty realities with liberating fantasies. The shows May 1-3, 2020 and tickets can be purchased here! Later that month, she will be performing in the new folk/rock/historical/contemporary musical "The Battlefields of Clara Barton" as part of the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern. The following weekend, she and Eli will tie the knot in Vermont!
A proud member of Actors' Equity and former five-year resident of NYC, Natalie has acted in plays, musicals, workshops, readings, and concerts with various New York and Regional Theatre companies, including Gateway Playhouse, Yorktown Stage, Syracuse Stage, and the Michael Chekov Theatre Co. among others. She toured the country coast-to-coast as an Actor/ASM with Theatreworks/USA, and then left the USA to perform with Norwegian Cruise Line for two contracts in the Mediterranean, Mexico, and Central America. On ships Natalie sang, acted, and danced in productions and cabarets, and devised a variety production for the Norwegian Spirit's "Christmas Spectacular." Ultimately, she found that she missed theatre and returned to the Boston area to study with Russian masters of the Moscow Art Theatre School.
Following showcases in Chicago and New York, Natalie signed exclusively with NV Talent Agency and moved to Chicago with her fiancé, actor/educator Eli Jolley. They were joined by an Australian Shepherd puppy named Sasha, who promptly won their hearts and took over their lives. However, last summer Natalie reclaimed her time by co-directing "Shelter," a new play co-produced by The Navigators, a New York-based feminist science fiction theatre company, and Chicago's Otherworld Theatre in Lakeview. Currently, she is assistant directing "Kiss of the Spider Woman" at Northwestern University. Based on the 1976 novel, Manuel Puig's play is an intimate and impactful tale of persecution that juxtaposes gritty realities with liberating fantasies. The shows May 1-3, 2020 and tickets can be purchased here! Later that month, she will be performing in the new folk/rock/historical/contemporary musical "The Battlefields of Clara Barton" as part of the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern. The following weekend, she and Eli will tie the knot in Vermont!
A proud member of Actors' Equity and former five-year resident of NYC, Natalie has acted in plays, musicals, workshops, readings, and concerts with various New York and Regional Theatre companies, including Gateway Playhouse, Yorktown Stage, Syracuse Stage, and the Michael Chekov Theatre Co. among others. She toured the country coast-to-coast as an Actor/ASM with Theatreworks/USA, and then left the USA to perform with Norwegian Cruise Line for two contracts in the Mediterranean, Mexico, and Central America. On ships Natalie sang, acted, and danced in productions and cabarets, and devised a variety production for the Norwegian Spirit's "Christmas Spectacular." Ultimately, she found that she missed theatre and returned to the Boston area to study with Russian masters of the Moscow Art Theatre School.
Natalie holds a BFA in Acting from Syracuse University, where she wore snowsuits to class and her training was primarily in musical theatre. Through Syracuse's Semester Abroad program, she also studied classical theatre in London at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre during Mark Rylance's final season as Artistic Director. Later, she was one of eight drama students selected to study film, television, commercials, and voiceover through the inaugural Aaron Sorkin Week in Los Angeles. This led her to obtain a summer internship working for the man himself on his developing NBC TV show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." As proof, here Natalie is pictured next to Steven Weber and Bradley Whitford in a billboard poster that stood on Sunset Boulevard. It was quite a summer!
Favorite roles include Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Hermione (The Winter's Tale), Cathy (The Last Five Years), Irina (Three Sisters), and Jeremy (If You Give a Pig a Pancake...). She was honored to originate the roles of Mimi Ford (Known), Carol Keynard (Doxxed), Senator Casca and Soothy Sue (Rome Sweet Rome), Sonja (Aurora Fra Bergen, or, IBSANITY), Tabitha Haskel (Found), and Eileen Myles (The Age of Innocence) at the University of Iowa. Production photographs for these new plays and others can be found in the Gallery.
Looking forward, Natalie plans to continue acting professionally while also incorporating teaching and directing, which she's found to be especially exciting, challenging, and fulfilling in new ways. She hopes to teach and work with interdisciplinary actor-collaborators, capable of devising new work, using different forms, and contributing as equals in the creation of live art. She believes in the power of storytelling, and its use of theatre, music, film, etc. in pursuit of human connection via the exploration of our humanity. She's interested in promoting the study of acting and theatre as vehicles of connection, communication, and ways to access creative and professional skills such as mindfulness and emotional intelligence. Natalie is committed to allyship, inclusion, and supporting diversity within the theatre community, with special interest in Women's and LGBTQIA+ topics. She aspires to further explore Russian theatre, language, and culture, since she's had the chance to visit a couple times, and her great-grandmother emigrated from Eastern Europe as a lone teenager... She hopes to one day be as brave.
Favorite roles include Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Hermione (The Winter's Tale), Cathy (The Last Five Years), Irina (Three Sisters), and Jeremy (If You Give a Pig a Pancake...). She was honored to originate the roles of Mimi Ford (Known), Carol Keynard (Doxxed), Senator Casca and Soothy Sue (Rome Sweet Rome), Sonja (Aurora Fra Bergen, or, IBSANITY), Tabitha Haskel (Found), and Eileen Myles (The Age of Innocence) at the University of Iowa. Production photographs for these new plays and others can be found in the Gallery.
Looking forward, Natalie plans to continue acting professionally while also incorporating teaching and directing, which she's found to be especially exciting, challenging, and fulfilling in new ways. She hopes to teach and work with interdisciplinary actor-collaborators, capable of devising new work, using different forms, and contributing as equals in the creation of live art. She believes in the power of storytelling, and its use of theatre, music, film, etc. in pursuit of human connection via the exploration of our humanity. She's interested in promoting the study of acting and theatre as vehicles of connection, communication, and ways to access creative and professional skills such as mindfulness and emotional intelligence. Natalie is committed to allyship, inclusion, and supporting diversity within the theatre community, with special interest in Women's and LGBTQIA+ topics. She aspires to further explore Russian theatre, language, and culture, since she's had the chance to visit a couple times, and her great-grandmother emigrated from Eastern Europe as a lone teenager... She hopes to one day be as brave.
