Leslie Lee (1930 – January 20, 2014) was an American playwright, director and professor of playwriting and screenwriting.

Life and work

Leslie Lee grew up in

West Conshohocken West Conshohocken is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,320 at the 2010 census. Its sister community is Conshohocken, located across the Schuylkill River. Montgomery County's seat, Norristown, is lo ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and a master's degree from

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Penns ...

. Lee's early theatre experience was at

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goo ...

's La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in the

East Village, Manhattan The East Village is a neighborhood on the East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue, between 14th Street on the north and Houston Street on the south. The East Village ...

. His play ''Elegy for a Down Queen'' was produced at La MaMa in 1970 and in 1972 by John Vaccaro's

Playhouse of the Ridiculous Theatre of the Ridiculous is a theatrical genre that began in New York City in the 1960s.Bottoms, Stephen J. Chapter 11: "The Play-House of the Ridiculous: Beyond Absurdity". ''Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway M ...

. ''Cops and Robbers'' was produced at La MaMa in 1971 by La MaMa GPA Nucleus Company. 1997, marked the beginning of Mr. Lee's theatre collaboration (spanning twenty years) with his Dramatic Writing Student from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts whom he deemed his protégé, Sophia Romma (née Murashkovsky). Colonel Lee directed Sophia Murashkovsky's play, ''Love, In the Eyes of Hope, Dies Last'' which was produced at La MaMa in 1997, and he also directe
Sophia Murashkovsky
s critically acclaimed play, ''Coyote Take Me There!'' at La MaMa in 1999. In 2004, Leslie Lee directed Ms. Murashkovsky's epic, mystic play, ''Defenses of Prague'' at La MaMa. Mr. Lee continued to successfully collaborate in the theatre with Dr. Sophia Romma and in 2006, directed her heart-wrenching émigré saga, ''Shoot Them In the Cornfields!'' which premiered at the American Theatre of Actors. Mr. Lee, who seldom took on the role of director, believed that Dr. Romma's unique staccato lyrical voice, her poignant themes of advocating for multicultural tolerance, religious, ethnic and minority acceptance, and most importantly her stark depictions of the trials and tribulations of immigration/assimilation were well worth exploring on the theatrical stage. Ms. Murashkovsky (Romma) in turn, directed Mr. Lee's short play, ''We're Not Here to Talk About Beethoven'' at John McTiernan's New York Performance Works. Lee also worked with the

Negro Ensemble Company The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) is a New York City-based theater company and workshop established in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer-actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S. Krone, with funding from the Ford Foundation ...

along with Sophi
Romma https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Sophia-Romma/
who served as Literary Manager of NEC. His significant work includes his

history play History is one of the three main genres in Western theatre alongside tragedy and comedy, although it originated, in its modern form, thousands of years later than the other primary genres. For this reason, it is often treated as a subset of trage ...

''Colored People's Time'', a production of which featured Angela Bassett and

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

, and ''Hannah Davis.'' He received a 1975 Obie Award for Best Play, a 1976

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

nomination for Best Play, and an

Outer Circle Critics Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

for his play ''First Breeze of Summer''. In 2006, the

produced his play ''Sundown Names and Night Gone Things'', based on Richard Wright's life in 1930s Chicago, featuring Stephen Tyrone Williams and

Dewanda Wise DeWanda Wise (née Jackson) (born May 30, 1984) is an American actress. She starred in Spike Lee's Netflix comedy-drama series ''She's Gotta Have It'' (2017–19), a contemporary adaptation of his 1986 film. Early life and education Wise was ...

. In 2008, the

Signature Theatre Company Signature Theatre Company is an American theatre based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1991 by James Houghton and is now led by Artistic Director Paige Evans. Signature is known for their season-long focus on one artist's work. It has be ...

produced a revival of ''First Breeze of Summer'', directed by

Ruben Santiago-Hudson Ruben Santiago-Hudson (born Ruben Santiago Jr., November 24, 1956) is an American actor, playwright, and director who has won national awards for his work in all three categories. He is best known for his role of Captain Roy Montgomery from 20 ...

and starring

Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries ''Roots'' (1977), earning Golden Globe ...

Brandon J. Dirden Brandon J. Dirden (born 1978) is an American actor, best known for portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway production of Robert Schenkkan's ''All the Way''. Career A Morehouse College and University of Illinois graduate, Dirden made h ...

and Jason Dirden, and

Yaya DaCosta Camara DaCosta Johnson (born November 15, 1982), better known as Yaya DaCosta, is an American actress and model. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of ''America's Next Top Model''. DaCosta eventually went to star in ABC's daytime drama series ''Al ...

. Lee's film credits include ''Almos' A Man'', an adaptation starring

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

of a Richard Wright story; '' The Killing Floor,'' which won first prize at the National Black Film Consortium; and an adaptation (with Gus Edwards) of James Baldwin's novel '' Go Tell It On The Mountain,'' starring

Paul Winfield Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939 – March 7, 2004) was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark fil ...

and

Rosalind Cash Rosalind Theresa Cash (December 31, 1938October 31, 1995) was an American actress. Her best-known film role is in the 1971 science-fiction film ''The Omega Man''. Cash also had another notable role as Mary Mae Ward in ABC's ''General Hospital'' ...

Teaching and grants

Lee taught playwriting at the College of Old Westbury on Long Island,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, commonly referred to as Lang, is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School. It is located on-campus in Greenwich Village in New York City on West 11th Street off 6th Avenue. ...

, and the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center in Manhattan, where he and Sophia Romma taught playwriting and screenwriting workshops under the leadership of Ray Gaspard, Kermit Frazier, and Marc Henry Johnson. He was a playwright-in-residence at the

, and received grants from the Shubert Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Foundation of the Arts. He received a playwriting fellowship from the

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. It is commonly referred to as The O'Neill. The center has received two Tony Awards, the 1979 Special Awa ...

in Connecticut. In 2009, he was sponsored by a Likhachev Foundation grant to travel to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and complete a screenplay on

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

Death and legacy

Lee died on January 20, 2014, due to complications of heart failure. He is survived by a brother and sisters, and several nieces and nephews. The

and

held a memorial celebration of his life and work in March 2014.

References

External links

Leslie Lee Legacy Foundation

"Remembering Leslie Lee" (YouTube)

"Black Experience in the Arts: Playwright Leslie Lee"

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

Archives and Special Collections Blog
Lee's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Leslie University of Pennsylvania alumni Villanova University alumni Tisch School of the Arts faculty 1930 births 2014 deaths African-American dramatists and playwrights