Lee Summers is an award-winning actor, director, writer, and educator whose career spans Broadway, television, film, and higher education. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning original production of Dreamgirls, later returning for the Dreamgirls 20th Anniversary Concert alongside Audra McDonald, Billy Porter, and Heather Headley (available on all platforms).
Summers began his acting training at Tennessee State University and has performed extensively on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally. Screen credits include Blue Bloods, Boardwalk Empire, Law & Order, and Spike Lee's NAACP Image Award–winning motion picture Malcolm X. His stage work includes Off-Broadway productions such as Little Ham, On Kentucky Avenue, and Just A Night Out, presented at National Black Theatre in association with the Negro Ensemble Company; appearances at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's festival at Yale University; and the Bistro Award for his solo performance Winds of Change. He also appeared alongside Oscar winner Estelle Parsons in a special performance of Miss Margarita's Way at Symphony Space. He has also performed alongside Broadway legends at Carnegie Hall.
A two-time AUDELCO Award winner for Best Director of a Musical and the 2022 BroadwayWorld Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical for his direction of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Summers' body of work has received 24 AUDELCO Award nominations.
On Kentucky Avenue (10 nominations) won Best Musical, with Summers receiving the AUDELCO Award for Best Director. He also contributed additional material, writing and originating the role of comedian Slappy Black — earning an AUDELCO nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Ella, First Lady of Song (6 nominations) also won Best Musical, with Summers again receiving the AUDELCO Award for Best Director, having also served as the production's librettist.
Summers conceived, co-authored, and co-composed the R&B musical From My Hometown, originating the role of Memphis in its developmental stages. He also served as lead producer of the Off-Broadway commercial production, which earned 8 AUDELCO nominations and ran for two years. It is now licensed in the U.S. and Canada through Concord Theatricals, joining a distinguished catalog of works by some of the world's most celebrated writers.
His new musical The Funkentine Rapture is currently in development following a 29-hour industry reading in 2025 directed by Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart, with music direction by Lon Hoyt (Hairspray), and is moving toward workshop production.
At NYU Steinhardt, Summers teaches Acting for Singers at the graduate and undergraduate levels and maintains an international private coaching studio, training performers from Shanghai to Seoul. He also serves as a recurring guest director at BerkleeNYC.
After beginning his studies at Tennessee State University, he earned his BA from SUNY Empire State College and his MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, SDC, and DG. For more information, please visit: leesummersshows.com.