Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren LeBlanc.
Lauren, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It’s been a bit of a winding road, reaching a place in my life where I could call myself a professional artist. I gave up performing for nearly ten years, instead getting a master’s in education and working as a newspaper reporter and classroom teacher. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to write or perform anymore. I just sort of forgot it was important to me.
When my second child was born, I went on maternity leave from teaching. A year later, I went to an audition and got the job. Then another audition, another job. I landed an agent, earned a spot in a tough literature fellowship, and joined the actors’ union. All things I had dreamed about doing since I was a kid. It took me starting a family and reaching my thirties to realize you don’t have to stay on the same path your whole life. There really isn’t a statute of limitations on your dreams. Sounds corny, but it’s true.
Has it been a smooth road?
I think every artist struggles with imposter syndrome, which is perpetuated and reinforced by the constant rejection we face. My writing has been rejected by editors all over the country. I’ve fallen apart in front of important folks at auditions more times than I can count. There are so many reasons to quit, and so many times, you’re given reason to believe you really are as terrible as the mean voice in your head says.
But when I’m healthy, I remind myself that there is really no such thing as failure. You either win or you learn. The only true failure is quitting, and that’s just something I refuse to do. I’m propelled forward, always, by the stubborn hope that my best work is still to come.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
As a writer, I just try to write clear and true, whatever the genre. My nonfiction has been published in THIS I BELIEVE: ON MOTHERHOOD and Underwired magazine. My chapter book HOW TO BE A BAD GUY won the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Work-In-Progress grant, and my middle-grade novel IGGY TOAST was accepted to two prestigious programs, the Rutgers One-on-One Conference and Author-Mentor Match. I studied children’s literature at State University of New York-Stony Brook, under famous writerly folks like Patricia McCormick (I Am Malala) and Emma Walton Hamilton (The Very Fairy Princess series). My full-length musical CAFÉ BROADWÉ, a collaborative project with my friend + composer Tyler Tejada, was workshopped in Philadelphia by ENA Ensemble earlier this year, and we’re hoping to have a full-length debut as soon as Covid lets up.
Right now, I’m revising and prepping my third book and prepping it for submission. And I’m about to go to work with the writing team of THE TREE, AN AMERICAN ROCK MUSICAL, produced by Imprint Theatreworks. Both projects mean so much to me.
As a performer, I’ve had the honor of working with amazing theatres all over the country, including Bootless Stageworks (DE), Act II Playhouse, Montgomery Theatre, and The Resident Theatre Company (PA). Locally, I’ve had the opportunity to work at Casa Mañana, Imprint Theatreworks, Circle Theatre, Garland Summer Musicals, and Theatre Three where I had the privilege of originating the title role in THE MANUFACTURED MYTH OF EVELINE FLYNN. I’ve gotten to do some radio spots and television commercials that have run nationally and regionally, and those are always a blast. Every performance opportunity I’ve earned has been a damned gift, and I don’t take a single one of them for granted.
As an advocate, I’m honored to serve as the chief representative for the DFW chapter of PAAL, the Parent-Artist Advocacy League, an organization I believe in so much. We wanna raise the conversation for caregiver-artists, making a working life in the arts more realistic, by offering childcare grants, leading with diversity and humility, and creating protocols that make having a family and continuing to work in the arts more doable.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I got to Dallas almost exactly three years ago. Initially, I auditioned around town for months and couldn’t close the deal. Then came this one audition – I sang my piece, and the director set my headshot down and started asking me questions. He was really interested in who was behind the resume. He said, “I don’t know anyone like you in town. That’s a good thing. You’re good. You’re gonna work here. Please come back and audition for us again.” I knew from the conversation I wasn’t going to get the part, but what he said was like a life raft. I walked out of the building and cried, I was so relieved. Someone had SEEN me.
Dallas feels like that: a place that wants to know what you bring to the table, wants to give people a chance, see what they’re made of. I’ve lived in a lot of cities – Houston, Denver, Milwaukee, Louisville, Philadelphia but when I got to Dallas, it felt like the city said, “Hey, guys. Scoot over. Let’s make some room for Lauren.” (Also, Dallas has Pickletopia, which is important.)
What I want DFW, and specifically the theatre community, to work on is dismantling the stubborn segregation in our performing spaces. I think the tide is turning in a positive way there are many houses that have made significant strides, even in the short time I’ve been here but I’d love the people on the stages and at the casting tables to consistently reflect the diversity of our communities with authenticity and intention. (Really, I just want people of every race and lifestyle to eat pickles together, in safety and peace.)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laurenkleblanc.com
- Email: leblanclaurenk@gmail.com
- Instagram: @laurenkleblanc
- Twitter: @LaurenK_LeBlanc
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