# Michael Lessac > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Lessac > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Lessac.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lessac > Source revision: 1315174737 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American film director (born 1940)}} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Lessac | image = File:"Sleep Faster, We Need the Pillow".jpg | imagesize = | caption = Ad for Lessac's 1968 album "Sleep Faster, We Need the Pillow" | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1940}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | othername = | occupation = Director, screenwriter | years_active = | spouse = | domesticpartner = | website = }} '''Michael Lessac''' (born 1940) is a [theatre](/source/Theatre_director), [television](/source/television_director), and [film director](/source/film_director) and [screenwriter](/source/screenwriter). Lessac is also the Artistic Director of Colonnades Theatre Lab, Inc and of Colonnades Theatre Lab, South Africa. He is the Project Creator & Director of the international theatre piece, ''[Truth in Translation](/source/Truth_in_Translation)''.{{Cite web |last=Fisher |first=Mark |date=2007-08-08 |title=Truth in Translation |url=https://variety.com/2007/legit/reviews/truth-in-translation-1200557320/ |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} ==Career== Lessac started his career in theatre after having received a Ph.D. in developmental and perceptual psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1965 under the tutelage of Richard Solomon and Henry Gleitman, and was then given a McKnight Fellowship to the Tyronne Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Later Lessac was given a two-year [Ford Foundation](/source/Ford_Foundation) Grant to work at the national theatres of [England](/source/England), [Italy](/source/Italy), [France](/source/France), [Poland](/source/Poland), [Romania](/source/Romania), [Yugoslavia](/source/Yugoslavia) and the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). He also developed his interest in music and was signed to [Columbia Records](/source/Columbia_Records) in 1968 to record an album, ''Sleep Faster, We Need the Pillow'', produced by John Hammond.{{Cite web |title=Michael Lessac {{!}} Global Arts Corps |url=https://globalartscorps.org/who-we-are/team/michael-lessac |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=globalartscorps.org |language=en}} From 1974 to 1984, as founder and artistic director of the Colonnades Theatre Lab in New York City, Lessac produced and directed over thirty productions and maintained and trained a company of eighteen actors, three playwrights, four composers, and a lighting, sound, set design/construction team. The theatre received numerous awards for its work over this period, most notably for its premiere productions of international theatre including original adaptations of the novels of Bulgakov (''Molière in Spite of Himself'') and [Frank O’Connor](/source/Frank_O%E2%80%99Connor) ("[Guests of the Nation](/source/Guests_of_the_Nation)" later seen on [public television](/source/public_television) in the US). The Colonnades production of ''Shakespeare’s Cabaret'', transferred to Broadway where it was nominated for several musical [Tony Award](/source/Tony_Award)s. ''The Colonnades'' received [Drama Desk](/source/Drama_Desk_Award) and new Drama Forum awards, and was an official [Ford Foundation](/source/Ford_Foundation) “challenge grant” theatre; an annual recipient of grant awards from the [National Endowment for the Humanities](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Humanities), the [New York State Council on the Arts](/source/New_York_State_Council_on_the_Arts), the Axe-Houghton Foundation and the Xerox Corporation. Interspersed with his work at the Colonnades, Lessac directed at the National Theatre of Yugoslavia (Dubrovnik, Zagreb); the [Guthrie Theater](/source/Guthrie_Theater) in M.N.; The Denver Theatre Center; The Arena Stage and the [Kennedy Center](/source/John_F._Kennedy_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts) in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington_D.C.), and [The Public Theater](/source/The_Public_Theater) in New York City. Lessac then wrote and directed ''[House of Cards](/source/House_of_Cards_(1993_film))'' starring [Tommy Lee Jones](/source/Tommy_Lee_Jones) and [Kathleen Turner](/source/Kathleen_Turner), which was produced by A&M and Penta Films, distributed by [Miramax](/source/Miramax) (1993).{{Cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=1993-06-25 |title=Review/Film; The Loss of a Child Who's Still Present |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/25/movies/review-film-the-loss-of-a-child-who-s-still-present.html |access-date=2023-12-27 |issn=0362-4331}} He has directed over 200 television shows and sixteen [pilots](/source/Television_pilot) including ''[Taxi](/source/Taxi_(TV_series))'', ''[Newhart](/source/Newhart)'', ''[Grace Under Fire](/source/Grace_Under_Fire)'', ''[The Drew Carey Show](/source/The_Drew_Carey_Show)'', ''[The Naked Truth](/source/The_Naked_Truth_(TV_series))'', ''[Just Shoot Me](/source/Just_Shoot_Me)'', ''[Everybody Loves Raymond](/source/Everybody_Loves_Raymond)'', ''[George and Leo](/source/George_and_Leo)'', ''[Titus](/source/Titus_(TV_series))'', and ''[Lucky](/source/Lucky_(American_TV_series))'' among others. He also directed [Kathleen Turner](/source/Kathleen_Turner) in the one-woman show ''Tallulah'', based on the life of [Tallulah Bankhead](/source/Tallulah_Bankhead). == References == ==External links== * {{IBDB name}} * {{IMDb name|id=0504297|name=Michael Lessac}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lessac, Michael}} Category:1940 births Category:Film directors from Wyoming Category:American male screenwriters Category:American television directors Category:American theatre directors Category:Living people Category:Date of birth missing (living people) Category:Place of birth missing (living people) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Lessac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lessac) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lessac?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.