Lee Etzold

Lee Etzold (she/they) is the founder of Hello Arts and a Philadelphia-based theater artist who connects personal narrative and humor through physicality. Their body of work as a performer and director is often site-specific and invites audiences into an immersive environment. Lee has learned so much from working with award-winning physical theater and dance companies, New Paradise Laboratories, Pig Iron Theater Company, Headlong Dance Theatre, Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, Brian Sanders’ JUNK, and Tony Award winner, Bill Irwin. They are grateful for their participation in the Lincoln Center Theater's Director's Lab, opportunities to tour, teach and learn internationally in England, Scotland, Hungary, Spain and throughout the US. Lee's work has been supported by the Knight Foundation, the Leeway Foundation, the Philadelphia Theater Initiative and PA Council for the Arts.

Lee's professional focus shifted after collaborating with the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University on A Fierce Kind of Love, featuring a mixed-ability cast. They formed the Hello Arts Collective to create access to art and artists. Hello Arts designs accessible programming in partnership with arts and culture organizations, helps facilitate the Accessibility Cohort of Greater Philadelphia, and shared the 2024 ADP Award for theater from the American Council of the Blind as part of the Audio Description Learning Network. Lee is also the parent of a neurodivergent kiddo and works to design creative environments for everyone, fostering imagination, healing, advocacy, and reciprocal learning in community.