{"id":240356,"date":"2026-05-22T10:01:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/240356\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:01:24","slug":"for-actress-lauren-patten-brooklyn-is-a-creative-haven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/240356\/","title":{"rendered":"For actress Lauren Patten, Brooklyn is a creative haven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>CLINTON HILL \u2014 Some people move to New York City with dreams of someday making it to Broadway. For Lauren Patten, it was the other way around; making it on Broadway moved her to New York City.<\/p>\n

Now, the theater and television actor is a \u201cMidwest kid living in NYC,\u201d according to her Instagram<\/a>. The actor currently stars on Broadway in \u201cBecky Shaw<\/a>,\u201d a play by Gina Gionfriddo and directed by Trip Cullman at the Second Stage Theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2015, Patten was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, when she flew across the country to be the standby for the role of Medium Alison in Alison Bechdel\u2019s musical \u201cFun Home\u201d on Broadway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very settled in LA, but I\u2019ve always been the most connected to New York as a person,\u201d Patten told the Brooklyn Eagle. \u201cOnce I was working on Broadway and living here, I quickly realized that there was no way that it was going to go back to LA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patten moved to New York and never left. In early 2016, she transitioned<\/a> into the role of Medium Alison full-time while original actor Emily Skeggs was away<\/a> on a television project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word family is used a lot in theater, and I find it to be a little bit of a cliche,\u201d she said. \u201cWith \u2018Fun Home,\u2019 we became like a family, and we all still feel that way about each other over a decade later.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last-minute move to New York launched Patten\u2019s career in theater and television. She was cast in Sarah DeLappe\u2019s off-Broadway play \u201cThe Wolves.\u201d That same year, she joined the cast of the first reading of the Alanis Morissette jukebox musical \u201cJagged Little Pill.\u201d In 2018, she joined the cast of \u201cBlue Bloods\u201d as Officer Rachel Witten, a role she played for several years.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/a>Lauren Patten, who currently plays Suzanna in \u201cBecky Shaw\u201d on Broadway. Photo: Jenny Anderson<\/p>\n

In fall 2019, \u201cJagged Little Pill\u201d premiered on Broadway with Patten in the role of Jo. Though the pandemic shut the show down in March 2020, Patten went on to win a Tony Award for Best Performance of a Featured Actress, one of two awards the show took home that year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was actually really beautiful in a way,\u201d Patten said. \u201cIt was strange because of all the pandemic stuff, but it also became an event to televise, showing the country that theater was coming back. It was a very emotional night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Patten plays Suzanna, a grieving, impulsive 30-something, in \u201cBecky Shaw.\u201d Gionfriddo\u2019s black comedy, which is loosely about a blind date gone bad, had its world premiere<\/a> in 2008 and made its Broadway debut this spring. \u201cBecky Shaw\u201d runs through June 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI found Suzanna so fascinating right away because she is delightfully not archetypal. You know women like her \u2014 indecisive, needs somebody else to be taking care of her, but also kind of dominating and abrasive \u2014 that sort of push and pull. I don\u2019t see women like that on stage a whole lot,\u201d Patten said. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t