Laura Copenhaver

Laura Copenhaver is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in Technical Production, where she teaches graduate courses in structural design, drafting, physics, electricity, and automation and supervises MFA Technical Production students across the School’s mainstage season. It’s also a homecoming: Laura earned her BA in Theatre and English Literature from FSU in 2007 before going on to the Yale School of Drama, where she received her MFA in Technical Design and Production in 2022.

A lifelong educator, Laura spent eleven years teaching theatre and serving as technical director at Colonial and Lake Nona High Schools in Orlando, where her productions earned multiple Dr. Phillips Center Applause Awards. She later joined Virginia Tech as Technical Director and Assistant Professor of the Practice. Her professional credits include technical design work for the Off-Broadway production of Midnight (2026), the Yale Repertory Theatre, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, along with overhire technical design for Goodspeed Opera and the Guthrie Theatre.