Janie Nowell
Playwright

It is with a mixture of joy and sadness that we write this tribute to Janie Nowell -- playwright, director, actress, wife of 20 years to Dr. Michael Lucas Fry, and mother of a teenaged daughter, Katriel.  Born in New York, Janie grew up in Jacksonville. She majored in Theatre at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where she found intellectual challenge, social acceptance and rewards for her talent and abilities. Thereafter, she opened her own touring company where she created, directed, and performed live theatre. In 1978, she returned to Jacksonville and continued to perform and create original works for several years. She gained respect throughout the industry as a playwright, a director, and an actress. In 1985, she penned Christmas Carole with Bruce Allen Scudder for Tod Booth Productions, now a much-loved family holiday tradition at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre. Celebrate Freedom, her musical tribute to all of the soldiers from the Civil War up to and including Desert Storm, was critically acclaimed and received a Presidential Citation at the White House from President Bush. It is performed annually at the Louise Mandrell Theatre in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. Nashville where she served as the senior writer for a film production company and worked on several television comedies and dramas. Janie took ill early in 2007 and never fully recovered before her passing in December 2007. She was artistic, talented, and energetic. She will be missed, but she will forever live in our hearts through Christmas Carole - a living memory to her life and spirit.