Hirsch, John Stephen

Hirsch, John Stephen [ Janos Stefan Hirsch] (1930–89), Canadian director, born in Hungary. He emigrated to Canada in 1947 and after graduating from the University of Manitoba became interested in children's theatre, writing several plays for his own Muddiwater Puppets Theatre. He co-founded Rainbow Stage, an outdoor summer musical comedy theatre, and Theatre 77, a semi-professional group. In 1958 he also co-founded the Manitoba Theatre Centre, which with its resident stock company set the pattern for a chain of regional theatres across Canada. He was Artistic Director, 1958–66, his productions including Brecht's Mother Courage in 1964 and Frisch's Andorra in 1965, and on one of his many return visits he directed his own adaptation of Ansky's The Dybbuk in 1973. With Jean Gascon he was co-director of the Stratford (Ontario) Festival theatre, 1967–9, where he staged Henry VI, Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Hamlet, as well as Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and a spoof version of The Three Musketeers. He directed the first production of James Reaney's Colours in the Dark (1967), and in 1976 a memorable production of Chekhov's Three Sisters. His first productions outside Canada were of García Lorca's Yerma and Brecht's Galileo at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in 1967. He headed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's TV Drama Department, 1974–8, and was Consultant Artistic Director at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, 1979–81. He was Artistic Director of the Stratford (Ontario) Festival, 1981–5, where his productions included The Tempest and Molière's Tartuffe.