UW News

April 26, 2007

Noted theater designer to lead panel discussion May 1

The UW School of Drama will present a panel discussion led by noted theater designer Ming Cho Lee from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 1, in the Meany Hall lobby.


Lee is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the highest national award given in the arts. His numerous awards and distinctions include a Tony Award, an Obie Award for sustained achievement, New York Drama Desk and New York and Los Angeles Outer Circle Critics Awards, three honorary doctorates, awards for long-term achievements from six major theater and opera organizations, membership in the Theatre Hall of Fame, the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture from New York City, and the recognition of many Chinese, Asian and Immigrant organizations.


His work has been shown in two separate retrospectives at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and in Taipei. As an architectural consultant, Lee designed theaters for Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre and the State University of New York at Purchase. He holds the Donald Oenslager Chair in Design and is the co-chair of the design department at the Yale University School of Drama.


“Lee is one of the great thinkers and philosophers about the American theater,” said UW Drama Professor Jon Jory. “In any list of 100 great theater minds of our generation, he would be included.”


A distinguished panel of theater artists will join Lee for the discussion. They are Jory; Linda Hartzell, a UW graduate and artistic director of Seattle Children’s Theatre; and Stephen Wadsworth, a director known for his productions of the classics.


The discussion, titled Inclusive Or Exclusive: For Whom Are America’s Theater Artists Creating Their Art? is free and open to the public, with a reception following. Reservations are not required. For more information call 206-543-5140.