Commissions

Figure portraits of Manitoba Theatre Centre founders John Hirsch and Tom Hendry (seated) are placed streetside near the theatre box office. A dedication cast into the empty theatre seat details the founding of the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1958.

John Hirsch, a Jewish-Hungarian war refugee, immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada at age 17. With Tom Hendry he co-founded the Manitoba Theatre Centre. He continued his directing career in New York and Los Angeles, then became the first Canadian Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival. I remember him striding the theatre corridors on long, stork-thin legs. John was loved, feared and admired for building endless 'castles in the air'!

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