Lezlie Wade is an award-winning director, writer, lyricist, and actor. She has spent 8 seasons at the Stratford Festival as an assistant, associate, and mainstage director.
She worked alongside Des McAnuff on several productions including As You Like It,
Henry V and A Word or Two (a one-man show with Christopher Plummer). Lezlie also worked with Des McAnuff on Jesus Christ Superstar at the Stratford Festival, LaJolla Playhouse, and the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway.
Lezlie's productions of H.M.S Pinafore and An Ideal Husband at the Stratford Festival were both well-received making her one of the few directors to oversee both musical and classical repertoire. Her production of Spamalot is the longest running musical at the Stratford Festival.
Other directing work includes Obeah Opera for Luminato and Panamanian Games,
Dream a Little Dream at the London Grand Theatre, Queen Milli of Galt at Theatre Aquarius, and The Twelve Pound Look for the Shaw Festival. Lezlie also directed A Man of No Importance and Elegies for Musical Stage Company.
As a writer, Lezlie is a graduate of the BMI workshop in New York. With collaborator Dan Green, Lezlie has written the book and lyrics for The Tale of the Gifted Prince currently optioned by Somerled Arts and slated for a world premiere at a major Canadian theatre company in 2023. The Gifted Prince was short-listed for the Tom Hendry Award for best new Canadian musical, was workshopped at AMTP in Chicago, and was one of two plays chosen for the ASCAP Dreamworks workshop where she received first-hand feedback from Dick Scanlan, Stephen Flaherty, and Stephen Schwartz.
Lezlie's musicals Sticky Fingers and Nobody's Children were both produced by Yellow Door Theatre. Her musical film, Dead Reckoning was selected by the USA film/fest last year and screened as part of the kidfest film festival. Her musical, Red Letter Day was also filmed this past summer and will be screened at the Performing Arts Center in St. Catharines in April, 2022 and won a New York International film award. Red Letter Day was also selected to be part of several international film festivals.
