Laura Ann Drake is a professional actor in theater, film, and television. In 2001 she opened Stage Struck, a theater school for young people. She spent her formative years in Minnesota and since 1978 has lived on the West Coast, in Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Drake's study of historic theater, especially vaudeville, started in 1979 with a City of Seattle "Artist-In-the-City" grant. Through her research, Drake wrote, directed, and produced a play about the history of vaudeville in Seattle. In Los Angeles during the 1980s, she met and directed many older performers (some ex-vaudevillians) in a play about their lives. Realizing the importance of the theater history she had collected over the years, Drake began to teach the history of vaudeville in public schools through cultural education grants from the King County Arts Commission. Drake wrote a play about vaudeville for her students and Roosevelt High School students. It was performed at the Moore Theatre, one of Seattle's oldest performing venues.
From the guide to the Laura Drake Seattle Historic Theaters Project Oral History Collection, 1980-2000, 2000, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)
