Ming Cho Lee (; October 3, 1930 – October 23, 2020) was a Chinese-American theatrical
set designer and professor at the
Yale School of Drama.
Personal life
Lee was born on Oct. 3, 1930, in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
, China to Lee Tsu Fa and Tang Ing.
Lee, whose father (Lee Tsu Fa) was a Yale University graduate (1918), moved to the United States in 1949 and attended
Occidental College
Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...
.
Lee married Elizabeth (Rapport) Lee in 1958. They had three sons Richard, Christopher, and David.
Career
Lee first worked on
Broadway as a second assistant set designer to
Jo Mielziner on ''
The Most Happy Fella'' in 1956. His first Broadway play as Scenic Designer was ''The Moon Besieged'' in 1962; he went on to design the sets for over 20 Broadway shows, including ''
Mother Courage and Her Children
''Mother Courage and Her Children'' (german: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, links=no) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrica ...
'', ''
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...
'', ''
The Glass Menagerie'', ''
The Shadow Box,'' and ''
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf''. He won the
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design, a