The “acting bug” is a powerful thing, and you never know when it’s going to strike. Once it bites you, it’s very difficult to shake. Lauren Dreggors discovered her love for acting less than a year before she booked the role of “Juliet” in Mercer’s production of “Romeo & Juliet.”

Dreggors, a junior at Mercer, is studying marketing with two minors in international business and accounting and is an active member of Alpha Gamma Delta. On top of all of those, she is also an actress.

Dreggors started acting relatively recently.

“I wasn’t involved in theatre, really anything all that artistic in my high school. We had one-act, but that was about it. There wasn’t really a lot of other artistic stuff to do,” Dreggors said.

When she got into college, Dreggors found that she was interested in acting. Her mother encouraged her to audition for a show in the spring of 2018, and Dreggors said she fell in love with it.

“I think it’s really cool to be able to portray something for somebody else that could mean so many different things. It may help them see something from a different perspective,” Dreggors said.

During the summer of 2018, Dreggors decided to temporarily relocate herself to Atlanta and take acting classes at the renowned Alliance Theatre. In regards to accommodations, she wound up living in a fraternity house in Atlanta that opens up its rooms for rent during the summer.

Dreggors said that the techniques she learned in the classes are helping her give her current role “everything she has.”

Dreggors also sings and dances, though she “isn’t a professional” in those fields.

As far as her future is concerned, Dreggors is both optimistic and realistic with her goals.

“I’m really, honestly hoping to give a career in acting a really good shot, to try to do that before I do anything else,” Dreggors said.