Stage Door News
Stage Door News
OTTAWA—The National Arts Centre is mourning the passing of one of the great men of Canadian Theatre, Tom Hendry. Mr. Hendry was the co-founder of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Together with John Hirsch, he built the first English-language regional theatre in Canada in 1958, and served as the company’s first general manager until 1963.
“Tom Hendry was driven to build great regional theatre across the country. He worked for MTC but also played an important role at the Stratford Festival, The Toronto Free Theatre, and founded the Banff Playwrights Colony in 1974. In 1986, he wrote an important report about the role of the National Arts Centre as a catalyst for English Theatre across the country,” said Peter Herrndorf, President and CEO of the National Arts Centre.
Hendry was born in Winnipeg in 1929 and graduated as a chartered accountant from the University of Manitoba. In the early 1950s he began writing and acting for the CBC and became active in Winnipeg’s growing arts scene.
Hendry not only started Theatres, he was an accomplished playwright. His plays include Fifteen Miles of Broken Glass (1966), Satyricon (1971), Byron (1976); Hogtown: Toronto the Good (1981) and Not in My Back Yard (1994). He also wrote scripts for CBC's King of Kensington.
Hendry was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995, and the MTC Warehouse Theatre was renamed the Tom Hendry Theatre in his honour in 2007.
The NAC wishes to express its condolences to Hendry’s wife Judith, and all of his family and friends.
Photo: Tom Hendry.
2012-12-05
Ottawa: The NAC mourns the loss of Tom Hendry