Lauren Goldman Marshall is a Seattle playwright and director. Her original plays and musicals include the hit Seattle revue Waiter, There's a Slug in My Latte' (Cabaret de Paris; over 200 performances), Whadda 'Bout My Legal Rights? (Empty Space Theater; published by Samuel French), Abraham’s Land (New Image Theatre, workshops by Village Theatre and elsewhere), Rivercide, P.I. (Seattle Public Theater; published by Baker’s Plays), The 100th Eye (West Coast Ensemble, Los Angeles), Falling Leaves (Dixon Place, NYC and Seattle Public Theatre), The Big Cigar (workshops at NYU-Tisch and New Opera Music Theater Institute, Boston), The Monkey King (Seattle Public Theatre youth production), and Fixing Einstein (developed and twice workshopped at the 5th Avenue Theatre). Her contemporary adaptation of The Misanthrope, set in the indie rock scene, premiered in 1999 at Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland, OR, where it won the Portland Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production. It was a finalist for the 1997 JFK Center Fund for New American Plays and has gone on to productions at many small theaters and universities including NYU (MFA acting program, directed by Tim Kelly).
Lauren was at the artistic and management helm of Seattle Public Theater for five years, during which time she oversaw the company’s move to and first season in the Greenlake Bathhouse, before stepping down to start a family in 2001. At SPT, she directed an acclaimed Seattle premiere of Joshua Sobol’s Ghetto, developed original plays on social and political issues, and conducted interactive workshops in Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed with diverse groups, including Lummi Nation teens.
From 2001-2010, Lauren focused on raising her two young children, one with special needs. This pause in her professional career has ultimately informed and deepened her work as a writer.
Since 2010, she has served as the founding director of Theater of Possibility for youth with autism and other disabilities.
Lauren was one of six Seattle writers and composers selected for the 5th Avenue Theatre’s 2013-15 inaugural Seattle new works program, where she developed Fixing Einstein with composer Ian Williams. Currently, she is working with composer Roger Ames on a complete revision of Abraham’s Land. They recently were awarded an $8,500 project grant from 4Culture to support a future production of the work.
Lauren has an MFA in Music Theater writing from NYU and a BA and JD from Stanford.
