Meet the cast of Twelfth Night: Lauren Heyboer

I am from Aurora, Illinois. I attended Aquinas College and officially moved to Grand Rapids after graduation in May! I stuck around because of all the lovely people I met here. I want to work and grow with our local theatre community until it's time to head to grad school.

I studied theatre at Aquinas. During my time there, I was able to explore the craft in ways that continuously challenged and engaged me, from dramaturgy to maskwork to theatre for young audiences. Because of Randy Wyatt and AQ Theatre, I am passionate about theatre for social change and creating art that is local, visceral, and vital.

I have acted primarily with AQ Theatre during my time in Grand Rapids, but now that I have graduated, I am excited to start working with other companies in the community. I have been part of a staged reading through the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival (Defy the Stars) and am a member of the Alternative Acts Theatre Company, acting in their production of Lockdown. I did dramaturgical work for Freshwater Performance Lab and the Beat Theatre Collective’s production of Constellations and am currently acting as the dramaturg for #thewaterproject. I have worked with Pigeon Creek a few times before as well (Saugatuck Shakespeare Expo/Midsummer Madness and Antony and Cleopatra). One of my favorite productions to be a part of was Everybody at Aquinas College. I got to work with Michael Chekhov techniques during rehearsal, which made me think about my process as an actor in a totally different way and gave me new tools to use in performance. I am proud of the challenges I tackled during that show, committing to confidence and discovering comedy and stage presence I didn't know I had.

I do theatre in my free time! Be it acting, dramaturgy, reading scripts, talking about the craft, or seeing shows, it's what I do (with friends!) all the time.

To wrap things up, here are some fun facts about me! I have degrees in theatre, English literature, and writing. For only playing a few times, I am startlingly good at the dice game Tenzi. I cannot parallel park (which makes living in Grand Rapids a little complicated sometimes). Thank you for getting to know me, and I can't wait to see you at Twelfth Night!