Three Rivers Concert on the Grass
Laurie Walters & John Slade
John and Laurie live in Ojai, California, where they are deeply involved in local theatre and education. They have graced the stage of the Concert on the Grass many times, in plays from Shakespeare to Mark Twain.
They also support progressive film-making with their online business, Ironweed Film Club.
They also support progressive film-
Before John Slade became an instructor of English Literature and Theatre Arts at Nordhoff, he was a professional actor for thirty years. He added his touch of menace and humor to a variety of cop, lawyer, and bad-guy roles on network television, and film credits include Titanic, Black Magic Woman, Slam Dance, and L.A. Confidential. Among over 70 Equity roles, his favorite onstage memories are playing the title role in Shakespeare’s King John, winner of Drama Circle, L.A. Weekly, and four Dramalogue awards; and Mephistopheles in Vaclav’s Havel’s retelling of Faust in Temptation at the Mark Taper Forum inLos Angeles. In addition to all the wonderful plays he has directed at Nordhoff, Mr. Slade directed Our Town and Romeo & Juliet at the Ojai Arts Center and acted at Theatre 150 and for Ojai Shakespeare Festival. He acted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Rubicon Theatre, and he and his wife Laurie directed three of the six plays listed as Best in Ventura County by VC Reporter. He is scheduled to appear in the Clarence Darrow role in Inherit the Wind next April.
Laurie has acted in theater and television since the early 1970’s - perhaps best known for her role as Joannie in the long-running television series Eight is Enough, which aired from 1977 to 1981 on ABC. Her first on camera role was in the iconic TV movie The People with William Shatner and Kim Darby, followed soon by roles in the movies Harrad Experiment and Harrad Summer.
Laurie’s television credits include numerous television Movies of the Week and guest star roles on “Cheers,” “Highway to Heaven,” “Love Boat,” “Columbo” and many others.
Her extensive stage experience includes recent work at the award-winning Rubicon Theatre in Ventura ( Sylvia, Fools, Children of a Lesser God) and the Santa Barbara Theater Ensemble (Memory of Water). At the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles she played major roles in Month in the Country, Measure for Measure, Undiscovered Country, and Richard III. Other Los Angeles credits include Sister Mary Ignatius at L.A. Stage Company with Lynn Redgrave, leading roles in several original plays including Women Behind Bars by Ron Link, and Locomotives, by the screenwriter Nicholas Meyer (Seven Percent Solution), as well as an award-winning performance as Juliet in Milton Katselas’ acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet at the Skylight Theatre.
At the prestigious South Coast Repertory Company in Costa Mesa she starred in Shaw’s Misalliance and won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for her performance as Pegeen in Playboy of the Western World. Ms. Walters has also played leading roles at the Huntington Rep in Boston, the Marin Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theater in S.F., and theatres in Canada, Michigan and Florida.
She and John moved to Ojai California in 2001 where he teaches high school drama, and both act and direct in local professional productions. Concert on the Grass in Three Rivers of course, is one of their favorite venues!
2003 Photo by Nancy Brunson
2007
From COTG performances...