Lauren E. Turner is a performer/director/ producer and community facilitator. She is driven by her interest in equitable, place-based, culturally relevant theatre especially as it pertains to the global south. Her work lives where storytelling, community building, and politics intersect. Lauren is an artEquity trained Equity, Diversity and Inclusion facilitator. She is a Round 4 recipient in the Leadership U: One-on-One grant program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, designed to further develop prominent emerging leaders and change agents in the American Theatre. Lauren has also served as a Mellon Fellow through Tulane University’s Community Engaged Graduate Program, mentoring Tulane University graduate students who wish to implement community engaged practices into their work. Lauren received her Master of Fine Arts in Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi and her B.A. from North Carolina Central University. When not devising, directing or producing, Lauren is the ringmaster of her very own home circus that she shares with her partner Jason and their three children, Austyn 7, Elijah 4, and Nia 4.