Early Leaders
Richard Demarco
Richard Demarco was a co-founder of the Traverse and the first Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Management (now board) in the theatre’s earliest days. He was also the director of the Traverse Gallery within the venue, which was an important part of the venue in its first years. This hosted the Demarco Archives, which now exist as the Demarco European Art Foundation and host a unique record of contemporary arts activities and related developments in Scotland and internationally from the early 1960’s to the present.
Jim Haynes
Jim Haynes was a co-founder of the Traverse, the first Chairman of the Committee of Management (now board), and the third Artistic Director, from 1964-1966. Throughout his life he has been involved in theatre, publishing, and teaching. For the past thirty years, he has hosted Sunday dinners at his home in Paris that all are welcome to. www.jim-haynes.com
Sheila Colvin
Sheila Colvin was an early leader of the Traverse, on the Committee (now board) as the Honorary Secretary for the first two years, and then working as the General Manager from 1964-1965. She did various work in theatre and television, then went on to work as the Associate Director of the Edinburgh International Festival for ten years and as the Director of the Aldeburgh Music Festival for nine years.
John Calder
John Calder was a vital contributor to the founding of the Traverse and served on the Committee (now board) in its earliest days, offering particular assistance in programming seasons of shows. He founded Calder Publications in 1949, which continues today to publish avant-garde new writers and books on the arts. Calder also devised the International Writers’ Conference for the Edinburgh International Festival in 1962 and the Drama Conference in 1963.
John Martin
John Martin was an already established commercial artist when he joined a group of friends in the creation of the Traverse Theatre and was one of the first Committee members.
Sean Hignett
Sean Hignett proceeded by scholarship from a Merseyside dockland school to St. Peter's College, Oxford where he gained an M.A. in Philosophy and Psychology and B.Phil in Aesthetics.
In 1961 he arrived in Edinburgh to lecture at the College of Education and served on the Committee (now Board) of the Traverse in its early years. In 1965 he was commissioned by the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, to write for the Commonwealth Arts Festival the stage musical Jack of Spades. The following year his first novel, A PICTURE TO HANG ON THE WALL, was published to universal uproar.
In 1970 he was awarded the D.H. LAWRENCE FELLOWSHIP by the University of New Mexico which allowed him to live on Lawrence's former ranch in the Rockies where Dennis Hopper, high on the success of Easy Rider, was his next-door neighbour and where he played a small advisory role in the editing of 'The Last Movie.’ Close by lived Dorothy Brett, the Bloomsbury painter who had followed DH Lawrence to New Mexico in the 1920s. Hignett later wrote her official biography.
A short story ALLOTMENT was turned into both a television play for the BBC and a stage play for the Pool Theatre Edinburgh. AND DID HE COME, his short play about Jesus, Mary and Joseph, was produced by the Traverse.
In 1961 he arrived in Edinburgh to lecture at the College of Education and served on the Committee (now Board) of the Traverse in its early years. In 1965 he was commissioned by the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, to write for the Commonwealth Arts Festival the stage musical Jack of Spades. The following year his first novel, A PICTURE TO HANG ON THE WALL, was published to universal uproar.
In 1970 he was awarded the D.H. LAWRENCE FELLOWSHIP by the University of New Mexico which allowed him to live on Lawrence's former ranch in the Rockies where Dennis Hopper, high on the success of Easy Rider, was his next-door neighbour and where he played a small advisory role in the editing of 'The Last Movie.’ Close by lived Dorothy Brett, the Bloomsbury painter who had followed DH Lawrence to New Mexico in the 1920s. Hignett later wrote her official biography.
A short story ALLOTMENT was turned into both a television play for the BBC and a stage play for the Pool Theatre Edinburgh. AND DID HE COME, his short play about Jesus, Mary and Joseph, was produced by the Traverse.
