actress, poet, leader in the American little theater movement, b. Prairie du Chien. She studied literature and drama at the Univ. of Wisconsin, Northwestern Univ., and in New York City and Chicago. While working as an actress in New York, she met Edward P. Sherry, and in 1902 was married to him at Prairie du Chien, Wis. Shortly after her marriage, Mrs. Sherry and her husband moved to Milwaukee, where in 1909 she organized the Wisconsin Players, reputedly the first successful little-theater, experimental drama group in the U.S. Under her guidance and leadership, the performances of the group won national recognition. Mrs. Sherry was also for a number of years drama critic for the Milwaukee Journal, and during the height of the experimental theater movement in Milwaukee, edited two volumes of plays (Wisconsin Plays, 1915), and for a time edited The Play Book, a monthly magazine in which she frequently discussed the theory underlying the development of the experimental theater. Mrs. Sherry was also the author of a highly regarded volume of poems Old Prairie du Chien (1931). After her husband's death in 1942, she spent a great deal of her time in New York City, but continued to spend her summers in Wisconsin. She died in New York City. R. D. Kohler, Story of Wis. Women [Kohler, Wis., 1948]; N.Y. Times, Apr. 19, 1947; Milwaukee Sentinel, Apr. 19, 1947.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Laura Case Sherry Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]