Laura Olsher

Olsher, Laura Nancy March 24, 1927 - June 5, 2012 Olsher, Laura Nancy. Born in Evanston, Illinois, March 24, 1927. Daughter of Sidney Feiss and Frances Rosenberg. Died June 5, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. Survived by children, Janet, Alice, David; grandchildren, Jennifer, Jason, Jocelyn, Joanna, Nathan, Kimberley; great grandson, Andrew, and pre-deceased by ex-husband, Rubin. Laura grew up in Illinois, graduated from Northwestern University and later earned an MA in Theater at UCLA. Writer, educator, and actor, she was a specialist in Creative Dramatics and consultant to schools in California and Canada. She taught ESL to adults, taught creative dramatics and writing for UCLA Extension, and received the Peabody Award as director of children s programming at KPFK. She was co-founder, writer, and story-teller for The Magic Basket children s theater. As voice over artist, she performed on TV and the animated Mister Magoo s Christmas Carol. She wrote and recorded children s records for Disney, and received two Emmy nominations as writer for Days of Our Lives and Love of Life. As playwright, she received a Norman Corwin award and a Shubert fellowship. Her published plays include What will Happen to the Children. Recently, her poetry and fiction appeared in the journal Illuminations. Laura was forthright, creative and vibrant, a mentor and an inspiration with her energy, passion, and humor. Memorial will be 2:00 pm, Sunday, June 24th, at Ocean House, 2107 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Heal the Bay (www.healthebay.org).