Laurlene Pratt died at Union Memorial Hospital of complications from pneumonia. She was 91. Mrs. Pratt had a long and distinguished career in the theater and also taught dramatic literature and English on the high school and university level.
Born in Baltimore, Laurlene Straughn earned a bachelor's degree in 1932 from Western Maryland College - now McDaniel College - where she studied music, French and education. Mrs. Pratt earned a master's degree in art and dramatic literature from the University of Pittsburgh in 1943. That year, she married Robert William Pratt. He died in 1946.
Mrs. Pratt moved in 1948 with her parents and young daughter to Washington, where she taught English at American University.The family moved to Baltimore in 1951, and Mrs. Pratt taught English at the former Towson State Teachers College before taking the teaching position at Forest Park High School in Northwest Baltimore from 1954 to 1969. While teaching at Forest Park, Mrs. Pratt started a curriculum in theater. Some of her students went on to become leaders on the Broadway stage and in cinema and music.
Among Mrs. Pratt's students at Forest Park were noted filmmaker Barry Levinson; Maxine Fox and Kenny Wiseman, producers of the Broadway hit Grease; and the late Ellen Cohen better known as Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas folk-rock group. Mr. Levinson, years later, invited his former mentor to the set of "Tin Men" when it was filmed in Baltimore in 1987. She was introduced to the cast and crew as a force in his professional life.
Laurlene also taught at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
In 1969, Pratt was approached by Ed Golden, the founder of Baltimore's Center Stage and director of Theatre Hopkins (formerly the Playshop), to consider taking his place as director. The 15-year career that ensued reflected the same superior artistry that had characterized her tenure at Forest Park. Between 1969 and 1984 she directed four plays in each thematically related season.
Notable among these was a two-year retrospective anthology of American drama, in 1975 and 1976. The opening production of the first year, titled As We Were, included excerpts from 19th- and early-20th-century works, including Our American Cousin, now associated with Abraham Lincoln's death, and a memorable production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town presented in the garden of Evergreen House.
Other outdoor presentations included her own adaptations of the Indian tale Shakuntala and Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. Memorable productions at the Homewood campus' Barn Theatre included Chekhov's The Seagull; Ben Jonson's Volpone; Eugene O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet; Jerome Kilty's Dear Liar; Hugh Leonard's Da; Frederich Durrenmatt's Play Strindberg; and A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room.
She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne O'Connell; a sister-in-law , Ruth Pratt Beiler of DeLand, FL. and several cousins.
Born in Baltimore, Laurlene Straughn earned a bachelor's degree in 1932 from Western Maryland College - now McDaniel College - where she studied music, French and education. Mrs. Pratt earned a master's degree in art and dramatic literature from the University of Pittsburgh in 1943. That year, she married Robert William Pratt. He died in 1946.
Mrs. Pratt moved in 1948 with her parents and young daughter to Washington, where she taught English at American University.The family moved to Baltimore in 1951, and Mrs. Pratt taught English at the former Towson State Teachers College before taking the teaching position at Forest Park High School in Northwest Baltimore from 1954 to 1969. While teaching at Forest Park, Mrs. Pratt started a curriculum in theater. Some of her students went on to become leaders on the Broadway stage and in cinema and music.
Among Mrs. Pratt's students at Forest Park were noted filmmaker Barry Levinson; Maxine Fox and Kenny Wiseman, producers of the Broadway hit Grease; and the late Ellen Cohen better known as Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas folk-rock group. Mr. Levinson, years later, invited his former mentor to the set of "Tin Men" when it was filmed in Baltimore in 1987. She was introduced to the cast and crew as a force in his professional life.
Laurlene also taught at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
In 1969, Pratt was approached by Ed Golden, the founder of Baltimore's Center Stage and director of Theatre Hopkins (formerly the Playshop), to consider taking his place as director. The 15-year career that ensued reflected the same superior artistry that had characterized her tenure at Forest Park. Between 1969 and 1984 she directed four plays in each thematically related season.
Notable among these was a two-year retrospective anthology of American drama, in 1975 and 1976. The opening production of the first year, titled As We Were, included excerpts from 19th- and early-20th-century works, including Our American Cousin, now associated with Abraham Lincoln's death, and a memorable production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town presented in the garden of Evergreen House.
Other outdoor presentations included her own adaptations of the Indian tale Shakuntala and Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. Memorable productions at the Homewood campus' Barn Theatre included Chekhov's The Seagull; Ben Jonson's Volpone; Eugene O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet; Jerome Kilty's Dear Liar; Hugh Leonard's Da; Frederich Durrenmatt's Play Strindberg; and A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room.
She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne O'Connell; a sister-in-law , Ruth Pratt Beiler of DeLand, FL. and several cousins.
Laurlene Pratt died at Union Memorial Hospital of complications from pneumonia. She was 91. Mrs. Pratt had a long and distinguished career in the theater and also taught dramatic literature and English on the high school and university level.
Born in Baltimore, Laurlene Straughn earned a bachelor's degree in 1932 from Western Maryland College - now McDaniel College - where she studied music, French and education. Mrs. Pratt earned a master's degree in art and dramatic literature from the University of Pittsburgh in 1943. That year, she married Robert William Pratt. He died in 1946.
Mrs. Pratt moved in 1948 with her parents and young daughter to Washington, where she taught English at American University.The family moved to Baltimore in 1951, and Mrs. Pratt taught English at the former Towson State Teachers College before taking the teaching position at Forest Park High School in Northwest Baltimore from 1954 to 1969. While teaching at Forest Park, Mrs. Pratt started a curriculum in theater. Some of her students went on to become leaders on the Broadway stage and in cinema and music.
Among Mrs. Pratt's students at Forest Park were noted filmmaker Barry Levinson; Maxine Fox and Kenny Wiseman, producers of the Broadway hit Grease; and the late Ellen Cohen better known as Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas folk-rock group. Mr. Levinson, years later, invited his former mentor to the set of "Tin Men" when it was filmed in Baltimore in 1987. She was introduced to the cast and crew as a force in his professional life.
Laurlene also taught at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
In 1969, Pratt was approached by Ed Golden, the founder of Baltimore's Center Stage and director of Theatre Hopkins (formerly the Playshop), to consider taking his place as director. The 15-year career that ensued reflected the same superior artistry that had characterized her tenure at Forest Park. Between 1969 and 1984 she directed four plays in each thematically related season.
Notable among these was a two-year retrospective anthology of American drama, in 1975 and 1976. The opening production of the first year, titled As We Were, included excerpts from 19th- and early-20th-century works, including Our American Cousin, now associated with Abraham Lincoln's death, and a memorable production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town presented in the garden of Evergreen House.
Other outdoor presentations included her own adaptations of the Indian tale Shakuntala and Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. Memorable productions at the Homewood campus' Barn Theatre included Chekhov's The Seagull; Ben Jonson's Volpone; Eugene O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet; Jerome Kilty's Dear Liar; Hugh Leonard's Da; Frederich Durrenmatt's Play Strindberg; and A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room.
She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne O'Connell; a sister-in-law , Ruth Pratt Beiler of DeLand, FL. and several cousins.
Born in Baltimore, Laurlene Straughn earned a bachelor's degree in 1932 from Western Maryland College - now McDaniel College - where she studied music, French and education. Mrs. Pratt earned a master's degree in art and dramatic literature from the University of Pittsburgh in 1943. That year, she married Robert William Pratt. He died in 1946.
Mrs. Pratt moved in 1948 with her parents and young daughter to Washington, where she taught English at American University.The family moved to Baltimore in 1951, and Mrs. Pratt taught English at the former Towson State Teachers College before taking the teaching position at Forest Park High School in Northwest Baltimore from 1954 to 1969. While teaching at Forest Park, Mrs. Pratt started a curriculum in theater. Some of her students went on to become leaders on the Broadway stage and in cinema and music.
Among Mrs. Pratt's students at Forest Park were noted filmmaker Barry Levinson; Maxine Fox and Kenny Wiseman, producers of the Broadway hit Grease; and the late Ellen Cohen better known as Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas folk-rock group. Mr. Levinson, years later, invited his former mentor to the set of "Tin Men" when it was filmed in Baltimore in 1987. She was introduced to the cast and crew as a force in his professional life.
Laurlene also taught at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
In 1969, Pratt was approached by Ed Golden, the founder of Baltimore's Center Stage and director of Theatre Hopkins (formerly the Playshop), to consider taking his place as director. The 15-year career that ensued reflected the same superior artistry that had characterized her tenure at Forest Park. Between 1969 and 1984 she directed four plays in each thematically related season.
Notable among these was a two-year retrospective anthology of American drama, in 1975 and 1976. The opening production of the first year, titled As We Were, included excerpts from 19th- and early-20th-century works, including Our American Cousin, now associated with Abraham Lincoln's death, and a memorable production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town presented in the garden of Evergreen House.
Other outdoor presentations included her own adaptations of the Indian tale Shakuntala and Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. Memorable productions at the Homewood campus' Barn Theatre included Chekhov's The Seagull; Ben Jonson's Volpone; Eugene O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet; Jerome Kilty's Dear Liar; Hugh Leonard's Da; Frederich Durrenmatt's Play Strindberg; and A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room.
She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne O'Connell; a sister-in-law , Ruth Pratt Beiler of DeLand, FL. and several cousins.
