Lauren Patten on the 'Odd and Beautiful' Process of Originating Her Role in Jagged Little Pill

Growing up in suburban Chicago, Jagged Little Pill standout Lauren Patten was never far away from the theater scene. Patten showed interest in acting at a young age by putting on concerts in the living room for her family—even making them purchase tickets. Patten got an early start to her career with commercials and plays and made her Broadway debut filling in for four months as Medium Alison in Fun Home in 2016. Now, she is playing Jo in the Alanis Morissette musical, which features her belting out the showstopping "You Oughta Know." 

Grandma Knows Best
Although no one else in her family is in the arts, Patten was always interested by the idea of acting and would often see both local and professional producions thanks to their proximity to the booming theater scene in Chicago. After seeing that Patten was fascinated by both the screen and stage, her family took action.  "My grandma saw a television commercial for an agent looking for kid actors and told my mom about it," she said. "That's how I got my start. A lot of commericials are shot in Chicago, and I actually did a Kraft mac and cheese commercial when I was five. I remember thinking it was fun that I got to get out of school and there were snacks. I was just having so much fun."

Living for the Applause
After booking several commercial gigs, Patten began to take her talents to the stage. "My first play was at the community theater doing The Best Christmas Pageant Ever as the bratty youngest kid," she said. "I got a huge kick out of it because I had an excuse to be a brat on stage and then people would clap for me. It was very egocentric of me. As I got older, I realized that you can tell stories that really impact people, but let's be honest, it all started with me thinking it was fun to do funny things on stage and have people clap."

Accio, Homework 
Patten tried dabbling with soccer and other extracurricular activities, but eventually decided to devote herself to acting. By the age of 12, she was working professionaly with the Rubicon Theater Company. "There wasn't a great middle school in my suburb, and I asked my mom if I could be homeschooled so I could do more theater," Patten said. "It wasn't really a hard decision because I love school and am a huge nerd. The social aspect wasn't why I was there, so I just got to do more of what I wanted on my time. I'm basically a real-life Hermione Granger. I got to have friends all over the country because of acting, so I never felt isolated: It was the best of both worlds."

I Heart NY
"I always wanted to be here and live in the city and be on Broadway," Patten said. She enrolled at New York University, but only stayed for a year. "The first time living here I was in a dorm on Fifth Avenue, and there was no air conditioning because it was a low-cost dorm. We were sweltering in September, but I was just so excited to be here. I think when you first move to New York, it's so vibrant and there's so much going on that it's both overwhelming and exciting." Even though Patten clearly adored NYC, she broadened her horizons by heading to the West Coast. About a year after her move, Patten was tapped for Broadway's Fun Home. "When I moved back here for Fun Home, I had just started at USC and was with Deaf West's Spring Awakening [in the ensemble]. It was a big push and pull on what to do, but I realized a couple months in that my brain had already adjusted to the fact that I live here and am never leaving. Sorry, L.A. I immediately abandoned you."

Jo Creation
Patten has been with Jagged Little Pill since the first table read in 2017, which allowed her to develop the character of Jo thoroughly. "It's an odd and beautiful thing to be the only person to have played this role," she said. "It's very important to me to be able to play characters as honest as Jo. I think what's really exciting is being able to help people connect that queer stories are also just human stories. To have a story like that on a Broadway stage is exciting, and then to add it to the soundrack of Alanis Morissette? Incredible."

For the Love of Cats
In between the show's premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Broadway preview process, Patten has spent a lot of time away from home. Her favorite distraction? Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector. "There's this game in the app store where you have a yard, and you attract cats to your yard," she laughed. "I go on it several times a day. You put out different types of toys and food and things for them to sit in, and then you check to see what cats are in your yard. This is really revealing of my inner psyche, but I love it. I'd take it over Candy Crush any day."

Photos by Emilio Madrid | Video directed and edited by Kyle Gaskell