Directing from an Early Age
Steve Hays can’t remember a time when he wasn’t fascinated by theater, particular musical theater. He staged his first play at age five and remembers telling his kindergarten teacher, “I have a show we can do, and I have all the costumes.” His school was thrilled, and that first experience inspired a lifetime of directing, leading and founding theater companies, writing music and plays, and teaching the next generation.
Steve’s early talent and fascination with theater and music brought him opportunities to see, direct, create and grow. His love for writing music or producing shows was strongly supported by his family and teachers. They bought season tickets and arranged trips to see live theater at professional venues from Boston to New York City. At 9 years old he was transformed when his family took him to see South Pacific. Musical Theater became his favorite. Discovering the composers and lyrists Rogers and Hart’s at 12 years old, he promptly began try to learn to play their hundreds of show song from their twenty-eight musicals. At 14, Steve would take the train by himself to New York, stay in a hotel for a night, and see as many shows as he possibly could in two days. Playing piano, and transposing with ease, led naturally to directing musicals in high school and college. That fascination eventually led him to a lifelong devotion for the works of Stephen Sondheim, on of the most important composers and lyricists of the 20th century.

Although musicals were center to Steve’s own writing and composing, his passion for directing intriguing small dramas first ignited when he saw Waiting for Good in his teens. It was produced by one of the early regional theaters in the country, the Charles Playhouse in Boston. That’s why he chose to study at Bowdin College. The drama department’s mission became a part of his life’s quest to create experiences that “provoke the imagination, tell moving stories, create community, and challenge assumptions.” Even after college, when he enlisted in the Navy, he never stopped writing and sharing his work.

Talent Leads Home to Massachusetts
Steve’s abundant talent and focus didn’t go unnoticed. After he left the Navy, he discovered that the artistic director of The Charles Playhouse had recommended him for a Ford Foundation grant in theater administration. Winning a full year's fellowship, he chose to work at the Cleveland Playhouse. After that intense year on the management side, he jokes that he thought he “knew everything there was to know about running an equity theater.” Although he laughs about that now, he knew to his core the kind of theater he wanted to build. And, he knew he wanted to build it in New England. Steve fondly remembers “growing up in Waltham in a wonderful community.” He longed for that same experience in his life and for the family and theater he hoped to build.
Eager to start something new and fresh, he looked at the larger regional cities in New England. Portland, Providence, Boston, and Hartford already had flourishing performing arts scenes and established professional theaters. Yet, in the mid 1960’s neither Worcester nor Springfield, Massachusetts, had a regional theater. So, he wrote a letter to both Chambers of Commerce, outlining a plan to create one and offering to lead it. Worcester never responded, but Springfield was ripe for a professional theater. A group of local leaders had formed a nonprofit called the Springfield Theater Arts Association for that exact purpose. The Association invited him to come “just for a chat” and after that meeting, they decided to never let him go.
Over the next year, Steve spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, developing an audience and raising money. The following year the Springfield Theater Arts Association had enough to convert a space at the Eastern States Exposition and build a 330 seat thrust stage theater space they named Stage West. The new company opened to a remarkable season and sold out houses. Hundreds of subscribers kept coming back to the venue for seventeen highly successful years. Through it all, Steve’s wife Catherine Houck Hays, a talented actress and director, and their two young daughters were always by his side. As young parents, the couple would bring first daughter Amelia to performances where she would play in the coat check area under the watchful eye of the staff.

Stage West - Moves Across the River
Despite its success, year after year, the theater company had to completely vacate the building in September for the “Big E.” This meant that nothing could be stored, nothing could be permanent. Then in 1983, the Springfield Parking Authority reached out to Steve about a garage in downtown Springfield, something new called Columbus Center. They were looking for a nighttime tenant to keep the garage in use after hours. It seemed like a perfect next step and a forever home for the Springfield Theater Arts Association and its company, Stage West. They found an architect and Steve helped raise one million dollars to furnish two new theater spaces. In 1984, Stage West opened the doors of its new home to great excitement and continued producing plays there until its closing in 1998.
A New Chapter – The Drama Studio
Yet, that opening of new space was the closing of a major chapter in Steve’s life. He had accomplished everything he’d set out to do. He had directed and produced nearly a hundred plays for the region with more than a thousand performances over two and half decades. He had worked tirelessly to ensure that the company was financially secure and brought in top talent from Broadway and Hollywood and everywhere in between. Now, it was time to support, encourage and train the young aspiring artists of the future just as he had been helped all those years ago.
For years Steve had received requests to teach children acting skills, something impossible at Stage West. Although the professional actors could bring their characters to life brilliantly on stage, most were not teachers and only in residence for a few weeks. The idea of The Drama Studio fully crystallized when Steve joined the board of the Community Music School of Springfield. Here was a model that felt right, a conservatory for children, designed specifically to nurture elementary and high school students in theater arts with a scholarship program and experienced long-term faculty.
The Church on Oakland Street becomes Home
The next hurtle was finding a home for The Drama Studio. Steve approached the minister at St. Barnabas and All Saints Episcopal Church on Oakland Street near Forest Park. The Church had unused space and was in a great location for students from across the region. Steve’s driving mission was to establish a place where diverse young people could grow as artists, leaders, and individuals in a safe and supportive environment.
That emphasis helped The Drama Studio establish a strong reputation in its first fifteen years. Yet as a tenant, Steve was always begging for more space to serve the Studio’s growing population of students, many of whom enrolled for three or four years and needed new and challenging classes. Then in 1999, the church closed, and the building was up for sale. Steve immediately started a fund drive to purchase the building and bring it up to code. Everything was needed and expensive: new wiring, heating, bathrooms, asbestos removal, fire doors, handicap ramps, and a security system, even a solar electric system to reduce costs. Yet, despite all that needed to be done, the school thrived.

The Drama Studio’s Curriculum & Future
The Drama Studio has served 200-250 children each year since 1987, nearly four decades of offering classes to children ages 9-18 years. The curriculum begins with an introductory year without scripts focusing on improvisation and exercises. The second year, students begin scene study. And after that, they have a choice of going into scene study, improvisation, and special classes such as stage combat, playwriting, and musical theater, which Steve taught for 30 years. At the insistence of the parents, Steve added a special class for students aged 6-8 years. They named it “Acting Up.” This class was designed to build a child’s confidence and excite their theatrical imagination while having fun.
Steve chose his faculty specifically for their ability to connect and inspire young people while teaching professional level acting skills. Most of the instructors have been with him for years. Yet, despite its popularity and success, The Drama Studio is one of only three acting conservatories for young students in the nation. That success comes from Steve’s focus on building a strong financial base, creating a welcoming environment, and teaching exciting and high quality courses. Committed to offering his classes to all, Steve has secure scholarships for students with financial challenges from gifts and grants from individuals, the City of Springfield and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as arts councils, and businesses.

The Hays Legacy
Steve Hays retired from fulltime leadership of the Drama Studio in 2023 although he continues to teach Musical Theater and direct the Boars Head Festival, now in its 47th year, at Trinity Methodist Church. His daughters and the staff he trained continue to grow and innovate at The Drama Studio. Those early experiences at Stage West led to daughter Amelia Hays-Rivest’s lifelong fascination for theater. She has taken over the reins as Director of the Conservatory and teaches acting. Amelia’s sister, Abney Hays, followed a love for numbers and became a busy accountant, but she still finds time to manage the books there. Under this younger leadership and an invigorated board of trustees, the future looks bright for the next fifty years for children of the region at The Drama Studio. Steve Hays has created a legacy that will endure.