Gideon Lester (born 1972) is a Tony Award-winning artistic director, dramaturg, curator, and creative producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

, Senior Curator of the OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts, and a professor at Bard. He has collaborated with a broad range of American and international artists including

Romeo Castellucci Romeo Castellucci (born August 4, 1960) is an Italian theatre director, playwright, artist and designer. Since the 1980s he has been one part of the European theatrical avant-garde. Biography Romeo Castellucci graduated with a degree in paintin ...

Justin Vivian Bond Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Described as "the best cabaret artist of heir!-- MOS:GENDERID --> generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseudon ...

Krystian Lupa Krystian Lupa (Polish pronunciation: ; born 7 November 1943) is a Polish theatre director, set designer, playwright, translator and pedagogue. He has been called "the greatest living European theatre director". He is the recipient of many nati ...

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...

Tania El Khoury Tania El Khoury (born 1982) is a Lebanese live artist. In 2017, she was winner of the ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival International Prize for Live Art, the only international award for live art, attracting a EUR30,000 prize. Her work has be ...

Anna Deavere Smith Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in '' The West Wing'' (2000–06), hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series ''N ...

, and Neil Gaiman. In 2015 he produced Daniel Fish's production of ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...

'' at the Fisher Center; it subsequently transferred to St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn in 2018, and opened on Broadway at

Circle in the Square The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, in the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends ...

in 2019, where it won a

Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical has been awarded since 1994. Before that time, both plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival. The award is given to the best musical play which has already appeared ...

. He frequently collaborates with the choreographer Pam Tanowitz, and commissioned her 2018 performance ''Four Quartets'', based on T. S. Eliot's poems of the same name, with music by

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...

, design based on the paintings of

Brice Marden Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) is an American artist generally described as Minimalist, although his work may be hard to categorize. He lives and works in New York City; Tivoli, New York; Hydra, Greece; and Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. Lif ...

, and narration by

Kathleen Chalfant Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop; born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the '' Law & Order'' ...

. ''Four Quartets'' subsequently performed at the Barbican in London. Lester co-curated the interdisciplinary arts festival "Crossing the Line" from 2013 to 2018. He was Acting Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) from 2007 to 2009 and taught at the Columbia University School of the Arts, where he created the Arts Collaboration Lab. Lester was born in London in 1972 and studied English at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. In 1995, he was awarded a Fulbright grant and

Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship The Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship program is a scholarship program which funds students from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to undertake graduate study at Harvard University. The program is named after the businessman, sold ...

to study dramaturgy at the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard. He taught dramaturgy at the American Repertory Theatre and playwriting at Harvard. He was the A.R.T.'s Associate Artistic Director from 2002 until 2006 and was Resident Dramaturg at the A.R.T. for five years prior. His stage translations include

Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing num ...

's ''Island of Slaves'' (directed by Robert Woodruff at the A.R.T. in 2006) and ''La Dispute'',

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's ''Mother Courage,'' Georg Büchner, Büchner's ''Woyzeck,'' and two texts by the French playwright Michel Vinaver, ''King'' and ''Overboard.'' His play ''Amerika or the Disappearance,'' adapted from Franz Kafka's first novel, was staged at the American Repertory Theatre in 2005, directed by Dominique Serrand. His other adaptations include ''The Master and Margarita'' after Mikhail Bulgakov, Bulgakov's novel, staged by János Szász, Janos Szasz at Bard Fisher Center in 2013; ''Wings of Desire'' (A.R.T. and Toneelgroep Amsterdam, 2006), ''Anne Frank'' and ''Enter the Actress'', a one-woman show that he devised for Claire Bloom. Lester is the son of politician and human rights barrister, Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill QC, and is the brother of Maya Lester KC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Gideon 1972 births Living people British Jews Institute for Advanced Theater Training, Harvard University alumni Theatre people from London Alumni of the University of Oxford Bard College faculty Columbia University faculty Sons of life peers