Taylor Hayes

James Taylor Hayes, aka J.T. Hayes, is the grandson of a Barnum & Bailey animal trainer and exhibition dancer, from whom he has inherited a sense of showmanship and a love of animals. He was hooked on acting at the age of six, when he first became a radio personality. Since then, he has spent his entire life in the theater, with jaunts on radio, TV and film. He is a fine teacher and friend, and is loved by all who know him, for his warmth, his humor, his eccentricities, and his generous nature. Jim has appeared in several films, notably Maggie Greenwald's Songcatcher (2000), which won a 2000 Sundance Award for Ensemble Acting. He was lead in the American Film Institute's Bright and Morning Star and Neal Jimenez's Ma Sat Down One Day. Jim's extensive television experience includes roles in Bodies of Evidence (1992), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951)'s Aunt Mary, and Archie Bunker's Place (1979). He wrote, produced and directed WPAY-TV's Mahitabel, the Witch. His theatrical work includes roles as Starveling in The Globe Theatre's Midsummer Night's Dream; Kemp in American Theatre Company's Entertaining Mr. Sloane; Parnell in Actors' Studio West's Blues for Mr. Charlie; and Finian in three productions of Finian's Rainbow, among many other roles. Jim has studied with Lurene Tuttle, Walter Lott, Burgess Meredith, Jocelyn Brando, Gale Shoup and Patricia Gains. As founder and Artistic Director of Unicorn Players, Inc., he has 30 years' experience touring children's theater, for which he wrote 14 stage adaptations of classic children's literature. He has produced over 250 productions across the United States, and has taught workshops, classes and scene study at the Jester's Playbox, East L.A. Community College, and Shawnee State University. For the Jerome H. Cargill Organization, he produced and directed music and comedy reviews throughout the U.S. Jim worked for many years as a director and producer for the John B. Rogers Company, where he produced the Tacoma Sesquicentennial Historical Spectacular, the 50th Anniversary Speedway Indiana "America on Wheels," and the "Reenactment of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend" in Alexander City, Alabama.