New Theatre Professor Laura MacDonald Joins the RCAH Cast

November 9, 2019

• Professor Laura MacDonald Changes the “Arts” in “Arts and Humanities”
• RCAH welcomes a new, worldly professor to integrate theatre into the curriculum
• MacDonald’s new class interacts with musical writers and composers

By Chrystel Lopez '22

The spotlight shines bright upon new RCAH professor, Laura MacDonald. Before Michigan, MacDonald taught in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and held fellowships in South Korea and China.

She taught at the University of Portsmouth and lived on the English Channel, where “you could see France on a clear day,” she said. 

Many MSU students find Michigan to be a shivering wasteland and couldn’t fathom moving from someplace so magical to someplace so… midwestern. MacDonald herself finds joy in her new home. 

“Here, I can go to Chicago for the weekend or go to Detroit, so it’s nice to still have access to big cities.”  MacDonald said. “The midwest is very different. There’s a lot more space. I’m really happy to be in a beautiful campus with so many trees; there were no trees in Portsmouth.”

Her fall semester course, RCAH 315: Building Musical Theatre Worlds, brings students to live theatrical productions for a hands-on learning approach. Her new course studies dramaturgy, the world of a play or a musical. This class looks into how the different elements of theatre work in order to visualize a fictional world. Perhaps most exciting, students collaborate with writers and composers in New York to further develop their musicals from a viewer’s perspective.

“In this course, we’re interested in not just how the theatre is building that world, but how the audience experiences that,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald’s previous university was young and focused on preparing students for the workforce. Her students were strictly musical theatre majors and rarely branched into different fields. This is why MacDonald came to RCAH—to explore other ways to teach about the intricacies of her field. 

“I was looking for a more interdisciplinary job because I’ve studied a lot of different subjects and I like to be able to deal with them on a regular basis,” MacDonald said. “I want to be thinking about languages and history and global cultures and societies. RCAH seemed like an ideal place with students who have a wide range of interests.”

When MacDonald was being interviewed, her immersive theatre workshop was well-received by RCAH professors and students alike. Faculty have described her as well read, curious, and engaged, among other comments, according to Joanna Bosse, the RCAH associate dean who headed her search committee.. 

“She’s just wicked smart,” Bosse said. “During her interviews, even during the dinner with her, one of my colleagues said, ‘I feel like I’m so much smarter just having had a meal with her,’ and I felt the same way.”

Several years ago, the only theatre-focused RCAH professor moved onto an ivy-league university. Therefore, the college wasn’t able to provide students with a passion for musical theatre any great opportunities to dive headfirst into the field. Now that MacDonald is here, things are changing.

 "I was really excited to have a musical theatre person because I think it will help develop our students in ways that they are eager to be developed,” Bosse said.