Murray Laufer 1929 - 2021

Distinguished Canadian Stage Designer and Artist

Plaque installed at 364 Sumach Street

Murray Bernard Laufer was born in Toronto. He was the only son of a Jewish couple of Polish and Lithuanian heritage. As a young person he was an excellent student, artist and hockey player. He graduated from Harbord Collegiate, followed by the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD) in Toronto and, in 1952, he received the Reeves and Son Scholarship and graduated with honours. It was at this time that he met his future wife, Marie Day.

As the pioneer of Canadian theatre, he combined architecture, sculpting and painting. His audiences

instantly identified with his stage settings. He is best known to theatre patrons through his work for the Stratford Festival, the Canadian Opera Company, the Shaw Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and Anne of Green Gables at the Charlottetown Festival. He has been described as an exacting perfectionist.

 

Murray’s magnificent theatrical designs were acknowledged internationally. He is known for his creative, imaginative and inventive works. His designs represented Canada at Expo 70 in Japan. They were staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as part of Canada’s gift to the U.S. on its bicentennial.

Murray left theatre design to become a studio artist. Drawing and painting were really his passion. Several of his works are part of the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Comments from Colleagues

“Murray Laufer was an extraordinary artist who as a set designer transformed words into powerful and imaginative set designs, and as an artist created wonderful and personal sketches, paintings and sculptures that reflected his humble, wise, generous, kind, and humorous perspective on a life well lived.”

Charles Hilditch (architect)

“In 1979, Murray Laufer led a small theatre Design team to the Prague Quadrennial Design Exhibition and Competition. I was lucky enough to be part of the Canadian submission. That’s how I came to know Murray. In the following years he was a mentor to me as we worked together at Toronto Arts Productions, and in 1981, my first Stratford design commission, designing costumes to Murray’s sets. He was such an original, passionate artist, and an outspoken advocate for excellence, both in the theatre and his own extraordinary art practice. He opened my eyes to possibilities that have stayed with me for all these years! He is certainly one of the remarkable Cabbagetown people!”

Astrid Janson (award winning set designer and costume designer)

Murray Laufer lived in Cabbagetown. First on Carlton Street near Sackville and then on Sumach Street  near Carlton.

Awards and Honours

1981 First recipient of Ontario’s Pauline McGibbon Award for Theatre Arts

1996 Silver Ticket Award from the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts – in recognition of his outstanding contribution to stage design

Honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University

Award for Design Excellence from the Prague Quadrennial Festival of Stage Design and Theatre Architecture