Among many other accolades, Lee Sankowich is the recipient of four Bay Area Drama Critics Circle Awards for Direction.
LARKSPUR, CA, August 05, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Lee Sankowich has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Sankowich is an esteemed director celebrating 50 years of excellence. He is responsible for a lifetime of engaging students and audiences through the performing arts. He began his stage career at the age of 12 in an acting school play and some years later sought out more opportunities to entertain as a member of the Young Adults Division of the Jewish Federation.
Mr. Sankowich's initial break came when the Jewish Federation asked him to direct a play, as he was the only member of the group with a formal theatrical background. Energized by the responsibility of guiding other performers and realizing his role in creating the final production, he believed he had found his niche, and began to focus more on directing than performing. While studying at the University of Southern California in 1967, he saw a small theater production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a play which had failed on Broadway in 1963 with Kirk Douglas in the leading role. Three years later in 1970 he produced and directed a revival of the play to great success. The production opened to strong reviews and record breaking extended runs in San Francisco, New York, and Boston, as well as an international production in Israel.
The success of Mr. Sankowich's stage production led to a revival in interest in the source material, and a rush on the film rights that included an offer from Kirk Douglas who owned the option on the movie. Mr. Douglas eventually gave the project to his son Michael to produce. Having built notoriety for his productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mr. Sankowich continued to direct and refine his skills on and off the stage, directing at many of the major Regional Theatres across the United States. Among his directing credits are the first professional all African/American cast production of Death of a Salesman and two Estate sanctioned productions of previously unproduced plays by Tennessee Williams.
Subsequently, Mr. Sankowich became an Associate Professor of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University in 1986, departing in 1990 to assume the role as Artistic Director at the Marin Theatre Company. In 2006 he left Marin to run the Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles which he had bought years earlier. The Zephyr is an historic black-box theatre space with a legacy of mounting challenging productions from creators at all career stages. Mr. Sankowich has maintained his presence at the Zephyr while continuing to guest direct at various Regional Theatres.
Among many other accolades, Mr. Sankowich is the recipient of four Bay Area Drama Critics Circle Awards for Direction. He has further accepted several Best Production of the Year honors. He wrote his first play, For Honor, and has his sights on producing and directing it in the near future. He states he has no intention of retiring.
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