Lee Cromwell has led a varied career as a director, educator, producer and performer. He maintains an active role as a guest lecturer and clinician on acting, audition techniques and performance practices for both spoken drama and musical theatre/opera.
Hailing from Harrington, Delaware, Lee is a magna cum laude graduate of Bucknell University, where he pursued dual degrees in Music & Theatre and studied under William Payn and Bob Gainer. Following Bucknell, Lee received his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College studying conducting under Tim Brown, Andrew Megill, James Jordan, Sun Min Lee, and Joe Miller, with vocal studies under Sally Wolf.
Lee served as the Director of Choral Music and Theatre at the Millbrook School, a co-ed collegiate prep boarding school in the Hudson Valley. From 2007-2011 he ran the program at the school, directing multiple productions each season, managing the 300 seat performance space and building a multi-year curriculum in both departments.
From 2011-2014 Lee attended Indiana University Bloomington, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing and worked extensively in spoken drama, musical theatre and opera. Other credits include productions with the Bloomington Playwrights Project, Jewish Theatre of Bloomington, New Voices Opera, Indiana Repertory Theatre, and Indiana Festival Theatre.
Lee relocated to the east coast and for the last seven years has maintained a freelance career as a producer, director, musician and acting/vocal coach. No stranger to new works, he has directed over thirty productions in a range of styles and genres, from plays to musicals to operas. Lee has directed and worked at a variety of theaters, including the National Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Rorschach Theatre, Young Playwright’s Theatre, Imagination Stage and the DC Queer Theatre Festival. From 2014 – 2017 he was the Associate Producer of the Source Festival and from 2017 - 2019 was the Festival Producer for Capital Fringe. In this role he was in charge of coordinating the Capital Fringe Festival, as well as serving as the lead producer for the Capital Fringe Curates Series, a new-works commissioning program.
For the past nineteen years Lee has been an integral member of the production staff for Under The Sun Productions, based out of West Chester, PA. Lee has worked on dozens of productions and national broadcasts in a variety of roles including Assembly Area Manager, Talent Coordinator, Personal Assistant to the Coordinating Producer and Stage Manager. This work has taken him around the country for events such as Nashville Christmas Parade (Nashville, TN), July 4th “Welcome America!” and 6ABC Thanksgiving Day Parades and Broadcast (Philadelphia, PA), “Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights” Parade and Broadcast (Chicago, IL), and National Memorial Day and National Cherry Blossom Festival Parades (Washington, DC).
As a performer and vocalist, Lee has extensive credits, including performances with major symphonies like New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony, and appearances at the Spoleto Festival USA. An active performer, he can be heard on both commercial and educational recordings with a variety of choral ensembles, including Anam Cara, The Westminster Choir, and Artifice, where he serves as a founding member, conductor, and Managing Director.
In addition, for the last fifteen years Lee has worked as a soloist, section leader, and conductor for various religious institutions.
Since the pandemic Lee has pivoted toward more work in virtual production, serving as a remote producer for a variety of virtual events, most recently as a Producer/Production Manager for theatreWashington, overseeing the 36th Annual Helen Hayes Awards.
Currently Lee is working for the Washington National Opera as the Rehearsal Planning Coordinator. His previous work with the WNO was in a combination of two different production capacities, as the Studio Coordinator and the Tour/Production Manager for the “Pop-Up” Opera Truck.
Lee resides in Takoma Park, MD, where he enjoys the outdoors (whenever possible), playing squash with friends and taking in the cultural and culinary experiences possible in the DC Metro region.