Author Profile:  Ray Harder

Ray Harder, as playwright, has shared scriptwriting roles on a dozen plays with his wife, Eleanor.  Their joint efforts have been produced throughout the world for many years and have been translated into several languages.  As a teenager, Ray built and raced sailboats in the Pacific, winning a collection of first-place trophies.  And in the Military, he served more than a year at sea aboard a converted sailing vessel, the 150-foot schooner, Te Vega, an adventure he later turned into articles and stories for numerous national publications.  Three more years on mid-Pacific duty, he rose from apprentice seamen to command a cutter, receiving a Bronze Star for his service.  Ray attended UCLA as an English major, was managing editor of the campus humor magazine, and met his future wife, Eleanor.  After graduating, he began a career in advertising and became Vice President of a West Coast ad agency.  A member of the Dramatist Guild and ASCAP, Ray also served as Vice-President of the American National Theatre Association-West, President of UCLA Friends of English, and lecturer in marketing for UCLA and the Small Business Administration.  When not writing ad campaigns or scripts with his wife, Harder races sailboats, often with his son Dan and daughter Julie as crew.  Recently Ray and Eleanor were honored with a Medallion Award from the Children's Theatre Foundation of America in recognition of their life-long collaboration in theatre for both youth and adult audiences.