Hayes, Elliott

1956-06-22 in Stratford (Ont.)

1994-02-28 in Stratford (Ont.)

Actor, Production: Assistant, Director: Assistant, Additional Material, Adapter, Playwright, Dramaturge, Lyricist: Additional Lyrics

Elliott Hayes was a Canadian playwright, director, dramaturg and poet. He was fond of stating he was famously born during an opening night performance of the Stratford Festival’s 1956 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

After working at the Festival in several capacities in his youth, Hayes graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1976 and spent several years in Hollywood. Returning to the Festival as a young man, Hayes served as the Festival's assistant literary manager (1982), associate literary manager (1983-1985), literary advisor (1986-1989), and literary manager (1985-1986, 1990-1994).

Several of Hayes's plays and adaptations were produced by the Stratford Festival between 1983 and 1992. Hayes also acted as director, dramaturge, editor and writer on more than fifteen Stratford Festival Workshop productions between 1984 and 1988.

Hayes was writer and editor of the CBC "From Page to Stage" multi-media education package, which was described at the time of its creation as "the most complete multi-media teaching kit on Shakespeare."

Following his untimely death in 1994, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas established the Elliott Hayes Award in 1999, which honours "exemplary work by LMDA member and non-member dramaturgs in the USA and Canada."