Armchair detectives, the Iraq war and sexual molestation all crowd their way onto the pages of this meandering narrative. When Leonard’s body is recovered after his sudden disappearance, Phoebe and her family must address their conflicted feelings about Leonard’s murder and his absence in their lives. Befriended by blue-haired old ladies, Leonard’s makeover enthusiasm garners him both friends and enemies.
On the other hand, the tone feels maybe a little too light for such a harrowing journey.īritton Mauk has designed the handsome set with Isabella Byrd’s lights and Elizabeth Atkinson’s sound providing a well-defined sense of location.Arriving on the Jersey shore, flamboyant Leonard Pelkey stomps into Phoebe’s life on platform sneakers and complicates her disconnected family relationships. Savia and Smith make an interesting choice to play against the sadness and sorrow of the story perhaps, because like Lecesne, they want to avoid 70 minutes of unrelenting gloom. Laura Savia directs the City Theatre production featuring Keith Randolph Smith. And it’s only because I’m a bitch I kept thinking of the classic line from the 1988 film Heathers: “I love my dead gay son!” But I will also say that when the boy’s sort-of stepmother speaks at his attacker’s trial, Lecesne’s writing soars into the stratosphere. I will say I felt a little … uneasy? … that the death of the plucky gay kid is used to teach life lessons to all the straight folks. It’s such a horrific tale, but Lecesne manages to keep it from being a dirge-fest with the assorted “wacky” characters he creates. We then follow a hard-bitten New Jersey detective’s investigation and meet the various people in Leonard’s life.Ī child of enormous heart and energy (the “brightness” of the title), Leonard altered the life of every person he touched … which most don’t realize until Leonard (and I’m not giving anything away) is found, the victim of gay-bashing, at the bottom of a lake. The title character is a 14-year-old who, at the show’s opening, has disappeared. Not that I want to: Lecesne has written this one-man, one-act show with heart firmly attached to sleeve, and there’s much to enjoy. I wouldn’t dare give a hero like that a bad review. Whatever else there is to say about Lecesne’s talents, the most remarkable is his having written the Oscar-winning short film “Trevor,” which lead to the creation of The Trevor Project, a nationwide organization combating LGBTQ teen suicide. With an eye fixed firmly on my karma, I note that City Theatre presents the local premiere of James Lecesne’s The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. Keith Randolph Smith in The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at City Theatre
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