Elaine Lee

Last updated

Elaine Lee
Occupations
  • Actor
  • playwright
  • producer
  • comic writer
Notable work Starstruck
Children Brennan Lee Mulligan
Website elainelee.us

Elaine Lee is an American actress, playwright, producer, and writer, who specializes in graphic novels. She has also received recognition and awards for her work as a creator and producer of audio books and dramas.

Contents

Her comics have been illustrated by artists including Michael Wm. Kaluta, Charles Vess, James Sherman, Steve Leialoha, Linda Medley and John Ridgway.

Her graphic novel Starstruck: The Luckless, the Abandoned and Forsaked was nominated for a Jack Kirby Award as The Best Graphic Album of 1985. [1]

She is the mother of Brennan Lee Mulligan, who is the author of Strong Female Protagonist and creator of Dimension 20 .

Career

In 1976, she moved to New York City and found acting work. [2] In 1979, she landed the role of Mildred Trumble on NBC-TV’s The Doctors . [3]

She was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions. [4]

Wild Hair began its run performing three plays written and performed by Elaine Lee and her sister, comedian Susan Norfleet Lee: Brief Lives, The Contamination of the Kokomo Lounge, and Starstruck . [5] Starstruck, a science-fiction spoof with a largely female cast, was performed Off-Broadway at the N.E.T.W.O.R.K. Theater, from April 16 – May 10, 1980. Lee portrayed Captain Galatia 9, and Susan Norfleet Lee played Brucilla the Muscle. In 1983, Lee directed a revised production with a new cast that was performed at the Park Royal Theater, from April 16 – May 8, 1983. [6]

Lee's Starstruck play grew into a comic-book series that has been adapted into audioplays and seen multiple spin-offs and sequels. It was nominated for the Jack Kirby award for Best Graphic Novel in 1985. [7] The British Science Fiction Society magazine Vector listed it as a "groundbreaking work": "The original volume, 73 pages long, covers three decades of stories across the universe, and the non-linear approach has seen some critics today comparing it to later works such as Lost and Watchmen . Even though it never gained significant attention during its original release, Starstruck predates the latter in the use of non-linear graphic storytelling, use of supplement texts for story expansion, overlapping dialogue and unreliable storytelling. [8]

Lee is a writer and co-producer for The AudioComics Company, which adapts comics and other original works into full-cast dramatizations with scores and sound effects. [9] She adapted Locke and Key , based on IDW's graphic novel series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. It was a finalist for an Audie Award. [10] She also produced The Starling Project, which received Audie Award nominations for Original Work and Best Audio Drama, and an Earphones Award. [11] [12]

She co-adapted the Image Comic series The Perhapanauts which won a Silver Ogle Award, [13] and also adapted and co-produced her "Honey West: Murder on Mars" (Moonstone Books) comics as an audioplay. [14]

In 2011, Lee was chosen as an Artist in Residence at the National Audio Theatre Festival workshop. The NATF commissioned her play "TransMars Tango" for a live performance, [15] starring Philip Proctor of The Firesign Theatre, and directed by Brian Price. [16]

In comics, Lee has written a wide variety of works for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and other publishers, including Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny, Prince Valiant, Ragman and Vamps . Lee worked as a colorist as well, most notably on several issues of The New Mutants and The Shadow for Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics and the first two issues of Starstruck. She also did color art and supervised art direction, did design work on her various Starstruck projects, such as the Starstruck Deluxe Edition, and for works on which she served as co-producer at AudioComics. She also served as Art Director for Stadium Entertainment. [17]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<i>Company</i> (musical) 1970 musical comedy

Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Dale</span> British actor, singer, songwriter (born 1935)

Jim Dale is an English actor, composer, director, narrator, singer and songwriter. In the United Kingdom he is known as a pop singer of the 1950s who became a leading actor at the National Theatre. In British film, he is now one of the last surviving actors to appear in multiple Carry On films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Finish Productions</span> British company producing books and audio dramas

Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include Doctor Who, the characters Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog from 2000 AD, Blake's 7, Dark Shadows, Dracula, Terrahawks, Sapphire & Steel, Sherlock Holmes, Stargate, The Avengers, The Prisoner, Timeslip, and Torchwood.

<i>Mame</i> (musical) Musical

Mame is a musical with the book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Originally titled My Best Girl, it is based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and the 1956 Broadway play by Lawrence and Lee. A period piece set in New York City and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when the young son of her late brother arrives to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Allen</span> American actress (born 1956)

Joan Allen is an American actress. Known for her work on stage and screen, she has received a Tony Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Kaluta</span> American comics artist (born 1947)

Michael William Kaluta, sometimes credited as Mike Kaluta or Michael Wm. Kaluta, is an American comics artist and writer best known for his acclaimed 1970s adaptation of the pulp magazine hero The Shadow with writer Dennis O'Neil. He is the godfather of comedian and gamemaster Brennan Lee Mulligan.

<i>Starstruck</i> (comics) Comic book series

Starstruck is an American science fiction comic book series. It is based on the off-Broadway stage play of the same name written by Elaine Lee, with contributions from Susan Norfleet Lee and Dale Place. An audio drama has also appeared.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Kushner</span> American writer

Ellen Kushner is an American writer of fantasy novels. From 1996 until 2010, she was the host of the radio program Sound & Spirit, produced by WGBH in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International.

Denise Poirier is an American actress. She is best known for playing the character of Æon Flux in the MTV animated series of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adjoa Andoh</span> British actress (born 1963)

Adjoa Aiboom Helen Andoh HonFRSL is a British actress. On stage, she has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre. On television, she appeared in two series of Doctor Who as Francine Jones, 90 episodes of the BBC's long-running medical drama Casualty, and BBC's EastEnders. Andoh made her Hollywood debut in autumn 2009, starring as Nelson Mandela's Chief of Staff Brenda Mazibuko alongside Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Clint Eastwood's drama film Invictus. Since 2020, she portrays Lady Danbury in the Netflix Regency romance series Bridgerton. In July 2022, Andoh became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynn Nottage</span> American playwright (born 1964)

Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for her play Sweat. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times.

<i>Gigi</i> (musical) Musical

Gigi is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It is based on the 1944 novella Gigi by Colette and 1958 hit musical film of the same name. The story concerns Gigi, a free-spirited teenaged girl living in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. She is being groomed as a courtesan in her family's tradition. Before she is deemed ready for her social debut, she encounters the bon vivant bachelor Gaston Lachaille, whom she captivates as she is transformed into a charmingly poised young lady.

January LaVoy is an American actress and audiobook narrator. As an actress, she is most recognized as Noelle Ortiz on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. LaVoy made her Broadway debut in the Broadway premiere of the play Enron at the Broadhurst Theatre on April 27, 2010.

<i>Wolf Hall</i> Historical novel by Hilary Mantel

Wolf Hall is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marin Ireland</span> American actress

Marin Ireland is an American actress. Known for her work in theatre and independent films, The New York Times deemed Ireland "one of the great drama queens of the New York stage". She has received nominations for an Independent Spirit Award and a Tony Award.

Starstruck is a 1980 science fiction comedy play written by Elaine Lee, with contributions from Susan Norfleet Lee and Dale Place. It was performed in New York City in 1980 and 1983, and spawned a graphic novel and comic book mini-series in 1984-85 and audioplays.

Lee Moyer is an American painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and web designer. Notable works include posters for musicians Tori Amos and Melissa Auf der Maur, as well as Laurel and Hardy paintings for the covers of their DVD box set collections, and the cover for the documentary Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown.

Jenna Lamia is an American actress, writer, and audiobook narrator.

AudioComics Company is an audio production company that adapts comic books, graphic novels, and original works. It was founded in 2010, and expanded under the producers William Dufris, Lance Roger Axt, and Elaine Lee. Their productions have earned critical acclaim and awards in the United States and abroad, and have been cited as a "game changer" in the field of audio drama.

Bahni Turpin is an American audiobook narrator and stage and screen actor based out of Los Angeles. Her audiobook career includes some of the most popular and critically-acclaimed books in recent years, including The Help and The Hate U Give. She has won 9 Audie Awards, including Audiobook of the Year for Children of Blood and Bone; 14 Earphone Awards; and 2 Odyssey Awards. Turpin has also earned a place on AudioFile magazine's list of Golden Voice Narrators, and in 2016, she was named Audible's Narrator of the Year. In 2018, Audible inducted her into the Narrator Hall of Fame.

References

  1. ↑ "Jack Kirby Award nominations", 1985
  2. ↑ "Elaine Lee | Broadway Play Publishing Inc".
  3. ↑ 1980 "Daytime Emmy nominations", SoapCentral.com
  4. ↑ Elaine Lee, Susan Norfleet, and Dale Place (March 1985). Starstruck (A Space Opera). Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. ISBN   0-88145-023-5
  5. ↑ Susan Adamo. "Starstruck: Artist Mike Kaluta's Designs For This SF-Comedy Satire". Starlog Magazine #41, December 1980, p.24.
  6. ↑ Elaine Lee, Susan Norfleet, and Dale Place (March 1985).
  7. ↑ "Starstruck: An Interview with Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta (Part 1) | the Comics Journal". May 9, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Vector: Sequentials #1 - Women and SF Comics | comicbookGRRRL". Archived from the original on January 12, 2015.
  9. ↑ "About AudioComics Company", ACC.
  10. ↑ "24 Audible Productions Named as Finalists for 2016 Audie Awards®". February 10, 2016.
  11. ↑ "2016 Audie Award Finalists Announced | Richland Library". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Testimonials & Awards".
  13. ↑ "Charles Ogle Award Winnwers".
  14. ↑ "Another Taste Of 'Honey West', SneakPeek.ca, October 3, 2011
  15. ↑ "2011's Expert Guest Performer-Instructors:", The National Audio Theatre Festivals, June 19–25, 2011
  16. ↑ "The Echo of One Hand Clapping – Notes on Audio Publishing and Production", by Brian Price, September 11, 2011
  17. ↑ Tim O'Shea. "Talking Comics with Tim: Elaine Lee", Robot 6, August 31, 2009.
  18. ↑ Lance Roger Axt. "AudioComics: The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Starstruck Archived August 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ". AudioComics Company press release, August 25, 2009.
  19. ↑ "The Starstruck I-CON Talent Search is ON!", The AudioComics Company, March 17, 2011 Archived March 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.