Acknowledgment of country

Polyglot acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and create, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. For more than 65,000 years, children and families have created and played here, and we are grateful to make our art on this country too.

13 Jun 2023

Lauren Swain

A baby is smiling. Their mouth is wide open. They have short brown hair and are wearing a yellow coat.

Lauren is a proud Dabee Wiradjuri person based in Naarm (Melbourne). She grew up in a rural town in the Mountains of Ngarigo Country (Cooma, NSW), an upbringing that underpins an artistic practice grounded in: community consciousness, care and working with what you’ve got.

Lauren has spent many days: building imaginary worlds in the back paddock, rummaging through the recycling bin for costume materials, using the box of a new fridge for a rocket ship and putting on shows in the lounge room with her cousins (little did they know this would be the foundations of their practice as a theatre maker for years to come). Some would say Lauren has been polyglotting since day one, but only in the formal sense since buzzing into her performing debut in Bees (Moomba, 2023). It was love at first sight after a Polyglot intensive in their Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) at Victorian College of the Arts, where she is now a sessional teacher, hoping to help shape the next generation of artists to centre play, access and interpersonal connection at the heart of their making.

Lauren believes that young people are magic and we have so much to learn from them. She pinches herself every time she gets the honour to make theatre with, for and alongside them.

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