Curt Hayward

Curt Hayward was born and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village, to a composer-arranger and a registered nurse, one of NYC's earlier mixed couples. Curt was also raised in NYC's first legal loft (his father, Alonzo Levister, was granted an "Artist-in-Residence" or "AIR" permission to be the first resident in the building where Robert Hooks shortly after had an AIR where he had his acting workshop), and Curt later grew up in NYC's Murray Hill. Curt's first job on T.V. was singing with Oscar Brown Jr. on "The Ed Sullivan Show", and he subsequently had a role in the musical version of "Alice in Wonderland" at the Village's Sheridan Square Playhouse (subsequently "The Actors Playhouse"). Curt also had a role in the HB Playwrights Foundation production of "Caravaggio", playing opposite Austin Pendleton. Curt has been acting, singing and directing at various times since age 5, notably at the Homestead Leadership Development Camp in Maine, where he was a counselor with James Remar, and directed James as "Fyedka" in "Fiddler On The Roof". Curt acted, sang and danced throughout his education, including playing "Benny Southstreet" in "Guys and Dolls" for Stanford University's main musical performance group, "The Ram's Head", for which he received a notable review in The Palo Alto Times. Curt's father was a third-stream classical, jazz, opera, musical theatre and pop composer who won a Clio award; he worked for Verve Records and Motown's Jobete publishing, and he worked closely with Oscar Brown Jr., numerous jazz greats such as Charlie Mingus, Miles Davis and numerous other jazz musicians. Curt grew up around them and many well-known actors, singers and choreographers, including Rip Torn and Geraldine Page. Curt's "godfather" was James Baldwin, who was at the loft frequently, and Curt was close with the first Afro-American playwright to win a Pulitzer Prize, Charles (Chuck) Gordone.