MTC founder John Sumner leaves the stage JOHN Sumner, founding artistic director at Melbourne Theatre Company, has been remembered as a pioneer who championed local voices on the stage. Sumner, 88, died in Melbourne on Friday following a short illness. The longest-serving artistic director at MTC -- Australia's oldest professional theatre, which he founded as the Union Theatre Repertory Company in 1953 -- had an unparalleled place in the Australian theatre industry, according to MTC chairman Derek Young. "He championed the development of Australian voices and writing in theatre," Young says. His passion, energy and tough professionalism set the standard and have been an inspiration for his successors. Sumner fostered the careers of, among others, playwrights David Williamson and Ray Lawler, whose original Summer of the Seventeenth Doll he directed for the MTC in 1955. Sumner directed the company's first production, Jean Anouilh's Colombe, in 1953 and was artistic director in the years 1953-55 and 1959-87. MTC artistic director Brett Sheehy says Sumner's legacy resonated in the company's 60th year. "We pay tribute to John's outstanding abilities as a director, designer and administrator," Sheehy says. His vision set the foundations for the creativity and diversity of talent that still thrills, confronts and entertains us today. English-born Sumner oversaw the expansion of the company from the Union Theatre to Russell Street and Arts Centre Melbourne in the mid-80s. In 2009, MTC's Southbank Theatre named its primary venue The Sumner in his honour.