Central High School, Superior

In the fall of 1948, Lauren Ekroth entered Central High School as a thirteen-year-old freshman and immediately distinguished himself academically. The Evening Telegram published the first-quarter honor roll on November 23, 1948: Lauren was one of only sixteen freshmen — in a school large enough to enroll 104 honor-roll students across four grades — to make the list. Principal George E. Shaw released the roll, which he would later describe as a source of school pride. His own self-description in a 2014 interview as “generally a very good student” is understated by the evidence.

Three and a half years later, in February 1952, Lauren appeared in a second, very different kind of notice: the cast list for Central’s production of two plays under drama director Miss Agnes Currie. He was cast in the role of “Bud” in Sun-up, a serious folk drama by Lula Vollmer set among Appalachian mountain people during World War I. The part was double-cast with classmate Dan Laux, indicating multiple performance nights. This is the first documented evidence of the theatrical practice that would define his adult career — at seventeen, playing a substantial role in a play that demanded emotional depth and dialectal authenticity.

That spring, Lauren graduated with the class of 1952 and was accepted at Superior State College. The Evening Telegram published the notice in August: “Lauren Ekroth, Superior Central high school graduate, has been accepted for admittance to Superior State College in the fall as a freshman.” He did not take a gap year; he enrolled that fall at age seventeen, carrying with him an academic record and a first taste of the stage that would both expand rapidly in college.