The final conversation in the 2026 Arts & Pride Month series: Lauren Love
Originally published on The JOLT News on July 7, 2026
It fills my heart with joy knowing this series has spoken to each of you and become popular in the community. This specific series might be coming to an end for now, but I hope we can continue the conversation on pride and artistry all year long.
I heard your encore, and I am honored to introduce you to Dr. Lauren Love. Dr. Love is the Drama Professor at South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) and Artistic Director of the SPSCC Theater Collective.
Getting to Dr. Love, I have truly seen her true colors shine — she is kind, generous, very intelligent and insanely creative. Enjoy our conversation!
The conversation
Benton: How did your love of theater begin?
Dr. Love: “My love of live theater started when I was a very shy and somewhat lonely 10 year old, and my mother convinced me to audition for the Milwaukee Children’s Theater Company. I made people laugh during that audition — I loved that and went on to perform in several shows with that company.”
“In high school, in addition to the shows at school, I interned at Theatre X, an experimental ensemble. That’s where I developed a taste for theatre that pushed boundaries and for ensembles that grew together as artists and human beings. I began to see theater making as more than the sum of its parts.”
“I embarked on theatre studies through undergraduate study in performance, graduate acting work, and then (after a 10-year stint auditioning, performing, writing and directing in Chicago) more graduate work in theatre history, theory and criticism. “
“In Chicago, my partner in all things (L.M. Attea) and I co-founded Theatre Praxis, a company devoted to placing marginalized people center stage. The love of making and studying theater and my interest in the potential of theater as a civic practice, led me back to academia as a teacher.”
Benton: Describe the role of arts in your story as someone in the LGBTQ+ community.
Dr. Love: “Actors explore diverse possible selves and myriad aspects of the self, and I think acting reveals that human beings are in a perpetual state of becoming. Making theater also gives you the immediate experience of the value of authentic connection with others.”
“These core features of learning to be an actor led me to an authentic expression of myself and to my coming out. Theater makers make communities of support as well, so I felt safe and accepted in those communities, which were always populated by queer folks and allies.”
Benton: Have you encountered any discrimination in the professional arts world? I hope for the opposite — lots of love and embracing of diversity.
Dr. Love: “As an actor in graduate school, I was introduced to feminist thought that was directly related to theater, and it completely opened my perspective. I began to understand the conventional roles that were available to women were limited by dominant ideologies and I began to reflect on past roles and the strong strain of heteronormativity that grounded so much of theater.
“I had kissed lots more men on stage than women. Graduate school then became a place to explore and develop as a feminist theater maker, and when I moved to Chicago after completing my MFA in acting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I was ready to create feminist, queer theatre.
“I got involved with Bailiwick Theatre, which was a company that focused on LGBTQ+ work. I performed with them, adapted a play there and met my partner in art and life there.
“Now, as a teacher and director, I seek out strong roles for women and plays written by women. I feel that same impetus to bring women, members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color into the spotlight that I did when founding Theater Praxis, and I’m grateful that I’m supported in pursuing that mission at SPSCC.”
Benton: If you had a megaphone to share a message about pride and artistry with the whole world, what would you say?
Dr. Love: “That the arts in general, and theatre in particular, reveal again and again that all human beings are precious, that our desires connect us to ourselves and others, and that our human connections are the most valuable parts of our lives, as individuals and as members of communities. The arts create space for all of us. The confidence to be ourselves authentically makes our art more authentic and that makes it better.”
Benton: Is there anything else you would like to share with me or JOLT readers?
Dr. Love:“Come to live theater. It is one of those remaining public places where we can share the human experience with empathy, where our hearts and minds can be engaged, and where our differences can connect rather than divide us.”