Ed Loessin : A Profile

Edgar Loessin began his career as a child actor in his home town of Houston, Texas.  After graduation from high school, he was awarded the Kay Kyser Scholarship at the University of North Carolina where he received his B.A. Degree in Dramatic Arts.  He then attended the Yale School of Drama to earn an M.F.A. Degree in Directing.  He received further training at the famed Actors Studio in New York.

After serving two years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Loessin resumed his career in New York City.  He directed plays Off-Broadway and in numerous summer theaters.  On Broadway, he was stage manager for Carol Channing’s SHOW GIRL and the national tour of GYPSY with Mary McCarty and Jules Munchin.

He directed world premiere productions of plays by Romulus Linney (THE SORROWS OF FREDERICK and HOLY GHOSTS with Beth Grant); Reynolds Price (A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE); Carlyle Floyd (An opera, THE SOJOURNER AND MOLLY SINCLAIR, starring Norman Treigle and Patricia Neway with Julius Rudel conducting); Muriel Resnick (LET’S LUNCH starring Sharon Stone).  In addition he’s directed close to a dozen outdoor dramas by Kermit Hunter and Paul Green.

In 1962, he left New York to found the Department of Theatre Arts at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC where he served as Chairman for 28 years.  Mr. Loessin also established the East Carolina Summer Theatre that produced elaborate productions of Broadway musicals and plays with stars of the stage, television and film including Michael Learned, Orson Beane and Catherine Bach, Karen Grassley, Kim Hunter, Grant Show and Gary Beach, among many others.

Recently East Carolina University renamed its producing theatre organizations The ECU/Loessin Playhouse and the ECU/Loessin Summer Theatre in his honor.

Since his retirement in 1991, Edgar Loessin has served as Arts Critic for WHRO-FM.  His reviews are repeatedly quoted by major Hampton Roads art organizations and New York agents promoting their clients.

Ed can be contacted at ed.loessin@whro.net.