Lauren is a self conscious, sixteen year old aspiring actress. Her family has financial issues and her father is not in the picture because of previous “problems with the, um, law” (59). Although she is the youngest person in Marty’s acting class, she is no less perceptive than anyone else. If anything, she notices more than the adults.
It is clear that she is self-conscious because she says “um” before everything in almost every improvisation exercise. The point of improv is to say exactly what is on your mind to create the most organic energy possible. When someone says “um” before every answer, it is obvious that they are analyzing what they are about to say before they say it. It is understandable however, that the only sixteen year old girl in a class of adults might be self-conscious to say what is on her mind. She may also be self-conscious because she feels as though the class can see that her family has financial problems. Nearly every week after class, Marty takes Lauren aside and asks for a paycheck for the acting class. Each week she has an excuse such as, “maybe it got lost in the mail” or “my mom was supposed to mail it to you” (46, 23). It is clear that she cannot afford the class and is embarrassed. She is also very naïve to the art of acting in general. In the third week of class, she asks Marty if they are “going to be doing any real acting” (39). This proves that she doesn’t really know what acting is. This could be because she has never had the money to take a class before or because she likes the idea of being an actress but doesn’t actually know what it entails.
It is not clear what she is looking for or what she wants – in the end, it seems as though she just wants to be loved.
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