LI Mourns Broadway Actress, 13, Who Died Of Asthma Attack

SAG HARBOR, NY — Long Island is mourning the loss of Laurel Griggs, a 13-year -old Broadway actress who died recently after a massive asthma attack.

The Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts expressed its grief at the loss of a girl who had graced the East End stage. "Her sudden death stunned her Broadway and Bay Street family as cast mates remembered her as an 'old soul' and 'always happy,'" a release from the Bay Street Theater said. "Her Bay Street fellow campers were shocked and saddened as word finally got around."

Broadway dimmed its lights in her honor, and she was remembered at a service at Chelsea’s Arte Café attended by friends and fellow performers, the release said.

Laurel was a student and a professional actor who starred in Broadway's "Once." She made her Broadway debut when she was just 6 alongside Scarlett Johansson in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the release said.

On the East End, audiences remember Laurel, who had been active in theater education classes at the Bay Street Theater for the past four years.

“The news about Laurel was devastating,” said Suzanne Clifton Walsh, Bay Street’s instructor of Laurel’s August Shakespeare class this past summer. “What an absolute tragedy. Actually, one of the first things that came to mind, when I realized it was truly Laurel Griggs from my class, was that she was so unassuming. In her quiet, mild-mannered way, she assumed a leadership role by playing Titania, but at the same time she helped me direct her fairies. Those three younger girls looked up to Laurel and, in turn, Laurel was kind and patient.”

The loss resonated among others as well.

“Bay Street was blessed to have Laurel in our summer theater camps for the past few years,” said Allen O’Reilly, Bay Street Theater's director of education. “She made many friends and shared her talents with us, and she will be forever missed by Bay Street Theater and all who knew her.”

Tracy Mitchell, executive director at the Bay Street Theater, said that while it is too soon to be in touch with Laurel's family about a remembrance or memorial, "It is our hope to remember Laurel in a special way next summer, since she was a part of so much of what we were doing through our summer educational programs. But for now, we simply mourn her loss and the loss for her family.”