I am fascinated by theatricality and the possibilities within it.
Laura Barati is a writer and deviser of new works. Barati’s experience as the queer daughter of a Jewish Colombian mother and a Muslim Iranian father fuels her desire to make untold stories and complex identities come alive onstage. She delights in pushing the limits of traditional genres and picking apart the messy intersections of gender, race, and sexuality through a critical but joyful lens.
Laura was a fellow at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop and the American Opera Project’s Composers and the Voice program. She is a founder and ensemble member of the devising collective The Electric Brain.
Her works include the musicals Miss Havisham’s Wedding, How To Create A Young Girl, and Silent Springs; the operas 75 Miles, Uprising, and Henna Leaves, and The Electric Brain’s We Regret To Inform You That Reza Is Dead.
Upcoming: her opera The Interaction Effect with composer Pamela Stein Lynde has been commissioned for Fresh Squeezed Opera’s 2025 season. Her opera Caravana de mujeres with composer Nicolás Lell Benavides is currently in development with Mass Opera and Opera Hub.
Her writing has been performed in New York City at the American Opera Project, Opera America, Prospect Theater Company, NYMF, Don’t Tell Mama; and regionally at Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center, Barrington Stage Company, Lowbrow Opera Collective, Stage Femmes, and Music Theatre Kansas City.
B.A. Drama, Kenyon College. M.F.A., Graduate Musical Theater Writing, N.Y.U.