James Cunningham and Martin Hunter - Playwrights

James Cunningham and Martin Hunter met in 1947 when they were both acting in a production of The Pied Piper of Hamelin at Eaton Auditorium as members of the Toronto Children Players under Dorothy Goulding. They both attended Trinity College in the 1950s where they played in various productions at Hart House Theatre under the direction of Robert Gill.

Both would go on to pursue careers in the theatre: Martin as a playwright and artistic director of Hart House Theatre in the 1970s and later scriptwriter for the C.B.C; Jamie as the founding artistic director of the Acme Dance Company in New York and subsequently a teacher of theatre practice at the University of Delaware.

Both men early came under the influence of Tennessee Williams. Martin saw the original production of A Streetcar Named Desire when visiting New York with his father at the age of twelve. James wrote his M.A. thesis on the plays of Williams. They have both directed a number of Williams’ plays.

In 2001 they began collaborating on a play about the famous American playwright which has been workshopped in Toronto, New York and Stratford before being given its world premiere at Hart House Theatre.

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