Pat Launer

2005 Living Legacy Awards Honoree

For two decades, Pat Launer has been the voice of theater in San Diego; the only broadcast theater critic in town, she’s acclaimed for her passionate, incisive reviews on KPBS-FM. Her columns appear regularly in On Air Magazine and sdtheatrescene.com; she’s written for the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, Performing Arts Magazine, theatermania.com, San Diego Magazine, Décor and Style and National Public Radio. In 2002, she won an Emmy Award for hosting/producing "Center Stage," an all-theater radio and television variety show that was unique in the nation, integrating local and national theater. Eight years ago, Pat created the Patté Awards for Theater Excellence, a joyful celebration of local theater that airs annually on KPBS-TV. Listed in Outstanding Young Women of America, she also received a National Commendation from American Women in Radio and Television. Pat received her Ph.D. in Communication Arts and Sciences from the City University of New York. For 24 years, she taught at San Diego State University, where she garnered a Meliorism Award, a Presidential Citation and was named Most Influential Faculty eight times. She was founder/director of Sign of the Times, the San Diego Theatre of the Deaf, and has won national awards for writing/producing/hosting theater-related documentaries, created with San Diego City TV. As a performer/activist, Pat has appeared in benefit productions including "The Vagina Monologues," Artists for Asia, and Voices of Women. She has served on the Boards of Creative Response of the Arts to AIDS and the Coronado School of the Arts. An enthusiastic advocate for youth and women in the arts, she has encouraged countless San Diegans to appreciate, support and attend theater -- which, she firmly believes, benefits the mind, the soul and the society.

http://www.patteproductions.com/