He was co-founder, with John Hirsch of the Royal Manitoba Theatre, Canada's first English-language regional theater, in 1958. He was the company's first general manager until 1963.
He graduated from the University of Manitoba as a chartered accountant. In the early 1950s, he began writing and acting for the CBC.
He was the first literary manager of the Stratford Festival (Canada), co-founded Playwrights Co-op, Toronto Free Theatre (TFT,) and founded the Banff Playwrights Colony in 1974. He was also a noted playwright.