Meet the Instructor: Laura Downing-Lee

     Greetings! This is my 26th year at Santa Rosa Junior College. Although I retired from full-time teaching in June 2022, I have chosen to continue as an associate instructor/director for the department. Before coming to SRJC, I was the Acting Specialist for our B.F.A. program at the University of Central Missouri for five years. I have a Master of Fine Arts (Directing) from University of Washington, a MA in Theatre (History/Literature and Acting emphasis) from San Francisco State, and a BA in Mass Communication from UC Davis. I also have substantial training in stage combat and can still swing a mean broadsword when I want to! Over the years I’ve worked as a professional director, actor, and even playwright on occasion, but my primary focus has been teaching folks like you.

     Although I am primarily known as a director, I just played the role of Bernadette in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive for Left Edge Theatre, as well as understudied the role of Gina in Heroes of the Fourth Turning.  Prior to that, I played the roles of Fruma-Sarah and Shandel in 6th Street Playhouse's production of Fiddler on the Roof in Fall 2023.  This April, I'll be starting rehearsals for the role of Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, also at 6th Street Playhouse.

     After serving a term as our department chair from 2013-2015, I went on an exciting sabbatical focusing on new plays and theatrical works. The highlight was observing the development of the new musical Head Over Heels (written by the same playwright who wrote Avenue Q and featuring the music of the Go-Gos) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  After its premiere at OSF, it was restaged and ultimately went to Broadway where, by a stroke of luck, I also saw its very first performance right at the start of Pride Week!)  Another treasured memory was teaching in London with the SRJC Study Abroad program (an incredible experience!); while there, I saw over 25 amazing plays, including Ian McKellan in King Lear and Patrick Stewart in Macbeth. 

     Other stuff...I am married to a man who LOVES basketball so I watch a lot myself.  Now retired, he served SRJC for 25 years as a counselor and administrator. He is also Chinese-American and grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown, which I've enjoyed learning more about.  Although we don't have children, we do have nieces and godchildren to spoil.  My cat feels that I must always wear a little cat hair to be stylish.  I am a breast cancer survivor (yippee!) and I have a hearing loss in my right ear so forgive me if I ask you to repeat something or speak up. While my Scottish, German, and British ancestry is more apparent in my appearance, I am a member of the Chickasaw Nation, with Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee ancestors on my father's side.  On my mother's side, I have ancestors who are buried right here in Santa Rosa, including my great-grandfather who was an acquaintance of Luther Burbank.  And my hometown for many years was South Lake Tahoe, CA, where I went to high school..."Go Vikings!"

     So...those are some highlights from my story...now I'm looking forward to learning some of yours!