Elliott Keener, one of the leading actor-directors in the New Orleans theatre community, died Jan. 14, 1999 of a heart attack at Memorial Medical Center, according to the Times-Picayune.

Mr. Keener, 49, was an actor, director and educator who was the last of the original founding faculty at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the local arts high school.

His upcoming projects were acting and directing in Born Yesterday and Fiddler on the Roof.

Mr. Keener was raised in Wisconsin and earned a Bachelor's degree at University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and a Master's from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of New Orleans.

His work as an actor was seen at Gallery Circle Theatre, the Contemporary Arts Center (cast by Edward Albee to be in Fragments) and Tulane University. He once owned the Rose Dinner Theatre in Gretna, LA. The industrious Mr. Keener won "Big Easy Awards" for directing Noises Off in 1986 and for directing and acting in Other People's Money in 1992.

Survivors include companion Dianne Ricca and a sister, Mallory Keener, of Madison, WI.

-- By Kenneth Jones