Jean Loran

Jean and I appeared together in the cast book for the Festival, benefits of B names!

Jean at 15 in her costume for All's Well that Ends Well for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

Jean and I became fast friends in the summer of 1981, when we were both cast as small parts in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. We were 15, and total theatre geeks. As kids in an adult production, we were thrilled by everything. We both had a crush on the impossibly handsome guy playing Mark Anthony in Julius Caeser, and were thrilled at him strutting around without his shirt in the dressing rooms! Jean was probably one of the first people I came out to, whoever remarked on her always creating a safe space for people was on the money. She even did it as a kid. I remember one night when we were hanging around after dark in the dorm building the cast used as their lodging. Somebody had a guitar, and Jean started singing, and had such a lovely voice. We all had a sing along, and I remember we sang Time in a Bottle that night, so it was great to hear it at the start of her memorial! She was a wonderful and loving person, and we were all blessed to have had her in our lives.