Lauren Marissa Smith is a theater actor turned writer. She creates work that amplifies the interior lives of those who are on the margins with provocative, raw and humorous storytelling. She is a recent alum of The Writer's Colony, a residency fostered by Mara Brock Akil's Story27 Productions and New Wave Writers, a year long program, led by Marcus Gardley, that cultivates new voices of color. She currently has several narrative projects in development. Lauren is a proud phi beta kappa graduate of Spelman College.