Laura specializes in comedy films, including short educational science videos for New York University’s Materials Research and Engineering Center. She also created science educational content for the BioBus and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Her short film, Sexy Clown Bitch, was an Official Selection of the Avignon Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival, Coney Island Film Festival, and others. Her previous short Pet Peeve, was in the top 10 best for a Nerve.com video contest and an Official Selection of the 2005 Palm Spring International Shorts Festival and the E.Vil City Film Festival in NYC. Both films received distribution.
Laura has worked for various companies creating web video content. She directed a segment for Oxfam entitled “In My Name” with music by Will,i,am from the Black Eyed Peas. She also directed and produced comic web videos for the company Collaborative Health. As a performer, Laura worked on Blue Jersey’s award winning Think Equal campaign for marriage equality.
Theatrical productions include Rain Falls, a collaboration with Judd Hardy about his experience in Rwanda. The play was commissioned by NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and remounted several times as educational outreach for high school students. Laura also directed and co-wrote the satire, Billy Andronicus: A Karaoke Tragedy, which ran at the Pyramid Club and Show World in New York City. Billy Andronicus combined video with life performance and included an interactive performance by “downtown stalwart” Steve Rattazzi.
Laura has a BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She Majored in Drama and minored in Arts and Culture with emphasis on film.
Laura Newman is a filmmaker and singer working in NYC.
Laura has just finished directing her first feature WE ARE THE HARTMANS, starring Richard Chamberlain. This “comedy parable for a gentrified age” is about saving the last small town rock club. It premiered at the Atlanta International Film Festival and will open theatrically in NYC on Nov 2nd at the Hiro Ballroom. Laura is also a leading member of Reverend Billy’s Church of Earthalujah (formerly the Church of Stop Shopping). She has been performing with the group since 2000. She also directs the “Freakstorm” video series for Reverend Billy and composes many of their songs, including co-writing “We Are The 99%” based on the Declaration of the Occupation.
