In Conversation with Liesl Tommy

Born in Cape Town during the apartheid era and having moved to the states in her teens, Liesl Tommy is one of America’s most celebrated directors. She has staged work in theaters across the country and on Broadway, most notably becoming the first woman of color to be nominated for the Tony Award for Best Director of a Play with Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed. With an expansive TV directing career and big film projects like “Respect” starring Jennifer Hudson and Trevor Noah’s “Born A Crime” in the works, Tommy is paving the way for a new generation of inspired directors ready to make change on stages and screens all over the world. In this episode of TA(L)KING DIRECTION, The Drama League’s Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks joins Tommy in conversation to discuss her genre-defying career journey and her hopes for a post-pandemic world.