Tom O'Horgan's first widespread public attention came in 1968, when he directed Hair on Broadway and won an Obie Award for directing Paul Foster's Tom Paine at La Mama. He had already been involved with the theatre most of his life: he began acting when he was four years old and he composed and staged a full-length opera, called The Doom of the Earth, when he was nine. Later, he studied music and supported himself for several years with a nightclub act—telling jokes, singing songs and accompanying himself on a harp. In the early Sixties, he performed in musical revues and began directing small productions at various lofts and theatres around New York City, including the Caffe Cino. In 1964, he directed Genet's The Maids in his own loft on Third Street, using men in the female roles as Genet had suggested.