Liesl Tommy
THE 24 HOUR PLAYS NATIONALS Reveals 2026 Company (Jun 3, 2026)
Whitney White Replaces Liesl Tommy as IMITATION OF LIFE Director; Production Dates Pushed Back (May 15, 2026)
John Legend and Lynn Nottage's IMITATION OF LIFE Will Open at The Shed in September (Apr 30, 2026)
BIO
Liesl Tommy is an award-winning stage director returning to the Huntington having previously directed Top Girls (2018), A Raisin in the Sun (2013), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2012), and Ruined (2011). Her credits include productions of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed (Broadway and The Public Theater) starring Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o (Tony Award nomination for Best Director), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Appropriate (Signature Theatre), Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Good Negro, UNIVERSES’ Party People, and A. Zell Williams’s Urban Retreat (The Public Theater), Les Misérables (Dallas Theater Center), Hamlet (California Shakespeare Theater), The Piano Lesson (Yale Repertory Theatre), and John Kander/Greg Pierce’s musical Kid Victory. Ms. Tommy is the recipient of an Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Pioneer of the Arts Award, Lillian Hellman Award, Lee Reynolds Award, Alan Schneider Award, NEA/TCG Directors Grant, New York Theatre Workshop Casting/Directing Fellowship, and the inaugural Susan Stroman Award from the Vineyard Theatre. Ms. Tommy facilitated the inaugural Sundance East Africa Theatre Director’s Lab and is a member of the board of the Sundance Institute. Ms. Tommy serves as a program associate at Sundance Institute Theatre Program.
STAGE CREDITS
Productions
Awards and Nominations
winner
Liesl Tommy, Eclipsed
Liesl Tommy, Eclipsed
winner
Liesl Tommy, Appropriate
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Outstanding Director (The Lortels) for Eclipsed, Best Direction of a Play (Tony Awards) for Eclipsed and Direction (Obie Awards) for Appropriate.
Liesl Tommy has won the Outstanding Director award from The Lortels for Eclipsed and the Direction award from the Obie Awards for Appropriate.
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