Episode Five. Lester Malizia: A Theatre Director’s Perspective

Lester Malizia is a theatre director who has worked extensively all over the world, including New York, Europe, and Russia. He was the Artistic Director for Seaside Music Theatre for 25 years and a producer for Million Dollar Quartet.

 

In this episode we discuss:

 

• Lester’s growing up and first discovering storytelling and theatre in New Castle, Pennsylvania
• Lester’s experience at a conservative college studying the Arts
• Lester’s experience in Europe and how that transformed him as an artist.
• The trials of growing up in NY, traveling as a director, and the loss of his long time partner Ned to AIDS
• Where Lester’s inspiration for directing comes from and how his voice flows
• Finding the breath of the playwright
• Passion in performing and what that means
• Our experience working together in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Lester's complex health issues and the shutting down of Seaside Music Theatre
• What it was like to teach theatre at the college where he had difficulties attending as a student
• The challenges of arts and academia
• Lester’s experience in Russia
• What Lester’s voice wants to say to the world