Laurie Allen

Laurie Allen was drawn to the theatre by performing in plays under the legendary drama instructor, Jerry P. Worsham at Snyder High School. In this small West Texas town, students advancing to the State UIL One-Act Competition in Austin, Texas was the norm and hugely supported by the community. After graduating, she decided to try her hand at writing plays for the theatre. Her first play, "Gutter Girl," won the Indian River Players One-Act Play Competition. Now, more than 25 of her plays have been published. Her plays for teens have enjoyed wide success and several of her high school competition pieces have gone all the way to national speech and forensics competitions. Laurie lives in Odessa with her teenage daughter, Melanie, and has another grown daughter, Brooke, who lives nearby. When not writing, she’s busy working as a process server, which gives her more opportunities to discover those unique characters and situations for her plays.