Biography
Michael Lessac (born 1940) is an American theatre, television and film director and screenwriter. He holds a Ph.D. in developmental and perceptual psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (1965) and began his career in theatre, later receiving a McKnight Fellowship to the Guthrie Theater.
In 1974 he founded the Colonnades Theatre Lab in New York City, serving as artistic director until 1984 and producing and directing over thirty productions. He has also directed stage work at venues including the Guthrie Theater, the Public Theater and the Kennedy Center. Lessac wrote and directed the feature film House of Cards (1993), starring Tommy Lee Jones and Kathleen Turner.
He has directed more than 200 television episodes and sixteen pilots, including episodes of Taxi (1978), Newhart (1982), Grace Under Fire (1993), The Drew Carey Show (1995), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996) and Titus (2000). He directed the one-woman show Tallulah starring Kathleen Turner and created the international theatre piece Truth in Translation.
