At some point, you’ve probably watched actors get hot and steamy in a movie or show and wondered, “How the heck do they do this? Isn’t that awkward?” Enter Laura Rikard, an intimacy coordinator for film and television and a choreographer for theater. Rikard works with actors to develop and choreograph any and all intimate scenes. The process empowers actors and ensures their boundaries are respected. Rikard, a UVA alum, has been part of numerous local productions like Four County Players’ Constellations and Live Arts’ upcoming Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberley, which opens December 1. She’s also worked with Jessica Chastain in Mother’s Instinct, and has coordinated on “Interview with a Vampire,” “Mayfair Witches,” and a forthcoming Ava DuVernay-produced show starring Joshua Jackson that she’s really proud of, but can’t say much about. theatricalintimacyed.com
Name: Laura Rikard.
Age: 46.
Pronouns: She/her.
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina.
Jobs: Associate professor of theater at the University of South Carolina Upstate, co-founder of Theatrical Intimacy Education, director, actor, intimacy coordinator for film and TV, and an intimacy choreographer of theater. And a mom to 5-year-old twins.
What do you do as an intimacy coordinator/choreographer: We work with the production and the rehearsal process to help stage the physical moments of intimacy for live performance, and we may or may not be there to help in the moment. We think of setting the moves like choreography, and we can adjust them as the actors’ boundaries change. The actors are never caught by surprise, and are never figuring it out night after night. They know exactly what’s going to happen.
How long have you been doing this work: Choreography, I’ve been doing unofficially since 2010, officially since 2015. Coordination, since 2020. The work has been around for a while, but under a different name. It took the #MeToo movement for the industry to become interested in it.
What’s something about your job that people would be surprised to learn: That I’m not the sex police. Sometimes people think that our job limits what can be done, but actually what it’s really about is clear communication. It ends up opening more spaces for creativity, because nobody’s ever uncertain that they’re going to have their boundaries crossed.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve found yourself doing in your job: On a television show there was an intimate scene that happened out on the street, but it ended with two actors going through a door into this fake building. The production asked me to be there for liability and the actors wanted to know I was on the other side of the door for support when they came in, but I had to be hidden so I couldn’t be seen in the scene anywhere. So I had to hide in the corner under a table while they came in to make out and kiss.
Favorite local restaurant: Baggby’s.
Who is your hero: My mom.
Best advice you ever got: Live your life where you want to live your life. Your career will be what it’s going to be.
Proudest accomplishment: My children. I had a really scary pregnancy because the medical system failed me in every way and I shouldn’t be alive and they shouldn’t be alive, but we are. And so the fact that I got them here and got them through everything makes me particularly proud.
Describe a perfect day: Just a really happy day with my family.
If you could be reincarnated as a person or thing, what would you be: My dog Lilly.
Favorite play: Henry VI: Part 2, Shakespeare.
Favorite movie and/or show: Steel Magnolias and “Mayfair Witches.”
Favorite book: The Art of Acting by Stella Adler.
Go-to karaoke song: “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
Who’d play you in a movie: Rachel Weisz.
Celebrity crush: Yeah, Oscar Isaac.
Most used app on your phone: Email or messages.
Subject that causes you to rant: Asking people who work in the arts, “Are they comfortable?” Because there’s nothing comfortable about making art. It’s about boundaries, not comfort.
Best journey you ever went on: Only theater nerds will get this, but going to see Duse’s grave in Italy.
Next journey: California in November to train some folks.
Favorite curse word: I’m sure fuck is my favorite.
Hottest take: That some people don’t know how to sit in traffic.
What have you forgotten today: I forgot to pack a lunch.
