Title
Honoring and recognizing Bernard Havard, President & Producing Artistic Director of the Walnut Street Theatre company.
Body
WHEREAS, in the 2026-2027 season Bernard Havard will be celebrating his 45th anniversary since founding The Walnut Street Theatre Company; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Havard came to America in 1977, recruited from the Citadel Theatre in Canada. To run the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, which he did for six years before being approached to take over The Walnut; and
WHEREAS, The Walnut, which at that time was a struggling rental facility. Mr. Havard was familiar with The Walnut from its illustrious past, and persuaded the Board to establish a not-for-profit, self-producing regional theatre; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Havard then built a subscription audience from zero to 56,000, the largest in the world. He is committed to a populist program and to producing musicals; and
WHEREAS, Bernard is recognized as one of America's leading theatre producers. Under his leadership, The Walnut has gained international recognition as one of America's premier regional theatres; and
WHEREAS, Bernard has spent his life in theatre as an actor, stage manager, director, managing director and producer. Some of his directorial credits at the Walnut include No?l Coward's Blithe Spirit, Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance, Stephen Karam's The Humans, David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People, Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage and Art, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Skylight, and A Life in the Theatre; and
WHEREAS, Bernard has worked in England, Australia, and Canada and is very proud to be an American. Bernard comes from a leading family of theatre artists and sculptors in England and France. His ancestors include Louis Havard, palace sculptor for Kings Leopold of Belgium and George V of England, and Kate Rourke who created the role of "Candida" for George Bernard Shaw and was the first woman to smoke a cigarette on stage at Wyndham's in London; and
WHERAS, When Mr. Havard came to th...
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