Charles Braun Ludlam (April 12, 1943 â€" May 28, 1987) was an American
actor, director, and playwright.Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New
York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He
was raised in Greenlawn, New York, and attended Harborfields High
School. He was openly gay, and performed in plays with the Township
Theater Group, a community theatre in Huntington, and worked backstage
at the Red Barn Theater, a summer stock theatre in Northport. During
his senior year of high school, Ludlam directed, produced, and
performed plays with a group of friends, students from Huntington,
Northport, Greenlawn, and Centerport. Their "Students Repertory
Theatre", housed in the loft studio beneath the Posey School of Dance
on Main Street in Northport, seated an audience of 25, and was sold
out for every performance. Their repertoire included Kan Kikuchi's
Madman on the Roof; Theatre of the Soul; a readers' theatre adaptation
of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology; and plays by August
Strindberg and Eugene O'Neill.He received a degree in dramatic
literature from Hofstra University in 1964. At Hofstra, Ludlam met
Black-Eyed Susan, whom he cast in one of his college productions. The
two became close friends, and Black-Eyed Susan performed in more of
Ludlam's plays over the following decades than any other actor, except
Ludlam himself.
actor, director, and playwright.Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New
York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He
was raised in Greenlawn, New York, and attended Harborfields High
School. He was openly gay, and performed in plays with the Township
Theater Group, a community theatre in Huntington, and worked backstage
at the Red Barn Theater, a summer stock theatre in Northport. During
his senior year of high school, Ludlam directed, produced, and
performed plays with a group of friends, students from Huntington,
Northport, Greenlawn, and Centerport. Their "Students Repertory
Theatre", housed in the loft studio beneath the Posey School of Dance
on Main Street in Northport, seated an audience of 25, and was sold
out for every performance. Their repertoire included Kan Kikuchi's
Madman on the Roof; Theatre of the Soul; a readers' theatre adaptation
of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology; and plays by August
Strindberg and Eugene O'Neill.He received a degree in dramatic
literature from Hofstra University in 1964. At Hofstra, Ludlam met
Black-Eyed Susan, whom he cast in one of his college productions. The
two became close friends, and Black-Eyed Susan performed in more of
Ludlam's plays over the following decades than any other actor, except
Ludlam himself.
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