Lee Edward Colston II is a Philly native, former prison guard turned actor, playwright, director, acting and writing coach, and author. Selected acting credits include: Intimate Apparel, The Color Purple (Nat’l tour), Seven Guitars, Hoodoo Love, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, Hadestown (New York Theater Workshop), The Sign In Sydney Brustein’s Window, The Winter’s Tale, Uncle Vanya, Merchant of Venice, Othello, Avenue X, and Sweat (The Public Theater, reading). Television credits include: “The Black List: Redemption” (NBC), “Mr. Robot” (USA). Playwriting: Roost, Solitary, and The First Deep Breath. His new plays currently in development include: For Which It Stands, This Is My America, and Station. His play Solitary was winner of the 2008 Philadelphia Theater Workshop. His play Roost won the 2010 Life Media Award in the Philadelphia Urban Theater Festival and the 2013 Hidden River Arts Award for Best New Play. He was a 2017 Finalist for the Shonda Rhimes ‘Unsung Voices’ Playwriting Commission and a 2017 recipient of the National Black Theatre ‘I Am Soul’ playwriting fellowship. In 2018, Lee’s play The First Deep Breath was selected to be a part of the Victory Gardens IGNITION Festival of New Plays as well as being a semifinalist for the Page 73 playwriting fellowship and a finalist for Barrington Stage Company’s Burman New Play Award. As a teaching artist he trains actors and writers in both one on one and classroom settings with a special focus on classical training and preparing actors and writers for the industry as well as undergrad and grad school audition preparation. MFA: The Juilliard School
