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Liesl Tommy () is a South African-American director. Primarily known for her stage work, Tommy became the first woman of color to be nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, for directing the Broadway theatre production of Danai Gurira's Eclipsed (2017). She also guest directed The Walking Dead episode "Chokepoint". She made her feature film directorial debut with the biopic Respect, based on the life of singer Aretha Franklin, starring Jennifer Hudson and released in August 2021.
After graduation, Tommy studied acting with Clare Davidson in London. After she returned to Boston, she worked as a pre-school teacher at Project AFRIC (Advancement for Families Rich in Children), a program working with at-risk families in the Roxbury area of Boston.
She is known for "re-envisioning" classic plays by creating retellings drawn from her own personal experiences and stories in life. Tommy's aesthetic is physical and visceral and she is interested in portraying the violence of being a human on stage through physical violence and/or violent exchanges.Bowgen, Philippe. "Director Liesl Tommy on Her Revolutionary Production of Les Misérables at Dallas Theater Center", Playbill, July 17, 2014. Accessed March 23, 2017.
Tommy's training as an actor has influenced her directorial style, particularly the way that she runs her rehearsals. She finds textual analysis and table work important during the rehearsal process and refrains from putting the play on its feet until she knows the actors have a sense of their characters. She also tries to give the actors the chance to drive the piece so that the audience has a chance to see people being free onstage. Tommy explained her directing philosophy: "My job as a director is to drag that story and drag that audience along for a ride they'll never forget. I don't care about having a signature. I just care about how to make the story as rock and roll as possible and as thrilling as possible. I do have a strong point of view, and there are certain things I explore over and over again in my shows, because there are things I'm working through as an artist."Myers, Victoria. "An Interview with Liesl Tommy" theintervalny, March 1, 2016
Tommy has made it a mission of hers to advocate for a more diverse theatre experience in her shows. Her 2012 production of Hamlet at California Shakespeare Theatre featured numerous African-American actors, including the title roles of Hamlet and Ophelia. She has directed plays by celebrated playwrights such as August Wilson's The Piano Lesson at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2011 and Ruined by Lynn Nottage at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2011.
One of her remake of a classical production was a version of Les Misérables at Dallas Theater Center she directed in 2014. This production included a racially diverse cast that challenged typical casting types and explored themes of African political demonstrations and "social justice". She had never seen a production of Les Misérables before she directed it, but she did read the book when she was a young girl and had a mission to tell a story of student uprisings. Growing up in South Africa she was surrounded by political and social uprising and she thought it would be beneficial to bring her own experiences into the production.
Tommy believes that theatre should be meaningful and "to change you".Sabcdigitalnews. "SA director, Liesl Tommy's Broadway production nominated for the Tony Awards", YouTube. May 20, 2016. Accessed February 22, 2017. Her resume encompasses a wide variety of plays that put this philosophy into action. One of her latest productions, Eclipsed, written by Danai Gurira tells the story of five Liberian women trying to survive toward the end of the Second Liberian War. This production starred Lupita Nyong'o and became the first-ever all-female-cast play written and directed by a female to premiere on Broadway. Before its move to New York, Tommy faced criticism that Eclipsed was too similar to Ruined by Lynn Nottage. When Ms. Nottage saw the play she agreed that there were similarities, but argued that as a whole it was a completely different story about different women and completely different circumstances.Simon, Lizzie, "Pushing Beyond Theater's 'Black Slot'", The Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2015. Tommy received a Tony Award nomination for directing for Eclipsed, making her the first African-American female director to have received a best directing nomination for a play at the Tony Awards.O'Connell, Mark, "Tony Nominated Director Liesl Tommy Has Made More Than History", HuffPost, June 21, 2017.
Her directing credits include a theatrical version of the animated Disney film Frozen at the Hyperion at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.Paulson, Michael, and Brookes Barnes. "Let It Go Go Go! Three Stage Versions of 'Frozen' Are on the Way", The New York Times, June 6, 2016. Accessed February 21, 2017. She directed Kid Victory, a new musical produced Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2017. " 'Kid Victory'. A new musical by John Kander and Greg Pierce", Vineyard Theatre. March 21, 2017. Accessed March 23, 2017. Tommy was named early on to directing the world premiere of Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company,Jones, Chris. "Broadway's Liesl Tommy Will Direct at Steppenwolf", Chicago Tribune, February 24, 2017. Accessed March 3, 2017. however, at its premiere Danya Taymor was listed as director.Jones, Chris. "Waiting, and ducking bullets, in the unflinching new 'Pass Over'", Chicago Tribune, June 12, 2017. Accessed July 10, 2017.
In March 2018, Tommy was hired to direct Born a Crime, the film adaption of the autobiography of the same name by Trevor Noah. Liesl directed the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect with Jennifer Hudson portraying Franklin.
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