Interview: Playwright Jim Leonard on the L.A. premiere of ANATOMY OF GRAY

Jim Leonard has published eight plays, including The Diviners, And They Dance Real Slow in Jackson, and Battle Hymn, with his theatrical honors including the Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ovation Award, the Dramatists Guild Award, and an LA Weekly Award for best play. The L.A. premiere of his powerful and poignant play Anatomy of Gray is being presented by Open Fist Theatre Company, directed by Ben Martin for a November 19, 2022 opening at Atwater Village Theatre.

Anatomy of Gray was originally staged at Circle Repertory Theatre in New York, and has subsequently been staged at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle. Leonard is currently adapting it into a musical with composers and lyricists Beth Thornley and Robert Cairns, with whom he collaborated on the musical Bad Apples.

I decided to speak with him about his coming-of-age play and its relevance to modern society, given it takes place in the 19th Century, as well as his decision to turn it into a musical.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. For those readers not familiar with you and your work, please tell me a few details about your life in the theater world. Have any of your plays been produced in Los Angeles before?

Yes, The Diviners has had several equity productions. Battle Hymn and Bad Apples were both developed and produced by L.A.'s Circle X Theatre Company. (Pictured: Jim Leonard. Photo by Linda Leonard)

Information I received about Anatomy of Gray piqued my interest in speaking with you. Given its description of being set at the end of the 19th century in the small town of Gray, Indiana where "The Wizard of Oz meets Our Town," what elements of those two famous literary works are reflected in it?

Our Town is simply the best American play. It is radically simple, deceptively pedestrian, and entirely profound. I make no such claims about my work. Oz, for me, is grounded in the clash of Midwestern innocence and cinema's best villain, all summed up by that perfect line after Dorothy's incredible journey: "There's no place like home." My lead kind of figures that out, too.

Pictured: Jeremy Guskin and James Fowler.
Photo by John Dimitri)

What elements or messages of the play do you feel make it a poignant children's story for adults? And will children 10+ appreciate it as much or just differently than adults?

Kids are smart and they love a good story. Anatomy of Gray tries to embrace something I really believe, which is that most people mean well, but, of course, we still make a mess of things -- and adults may identify with that.

No doubt! Why do you think his coming-of-age play set in the 19th Century is relevant to modern society and the problems still faced by teens learning to adapt to adult life?

(Pictured: Erica Mae McNeal and Alina Phelan. Photo by John Dimitri)

Because sometimes it's easier to recognize ourselves in a story when it's set in another time, which allows us to judge characters and their actions from a distance, right? Like Lorraine Hansberry's brilliant A Raisin in the Sun, which is still such an electric play that it practically lights its own pages on fire -- not only because its theme is injustice, but because of her characters.

Absolutely. That's why character-driven plays remain so popular over time. I'm curious about what influenced your decision to have Open Fist Theatre Company produce the play. Have you worked with them before?

I met Martha Demson at a Circle X workshop for The River, the musical based on this play. She said her company really liked reading the play aloud with each other and wanted to give it a shot, so I said yes. I asked Martha and the cast to implement some revisions for one scene that I think is important -- pretty simple stuff I discovered while working on the musical adaptation. They were game. That's it.

Several roles in the Open Fist Theatre Company production are double cast, including Erica Mae McNeal and Rebekah Paugam alternating in the pivotal role of June. Were you involved with casting the show?

I haven't been involved in casting, concept meetings or rehearsals. I'm just grateful that the folks at Open Fist are still crazy enough to still make theater by-hand - no big budgets, no resources, just actors and a director and some pages.

What do you hope audiences will walk away talking about after seeing Anatomy of Gray?

What good acting. What a good story.

What made you decide to adapt the play into a musical?

Beth Thornley and Rob Cairns did the music for Bad Apples at Circle X. That's a dark one. Beth is from the South, and Rob, like me, is from the Midwest. They read Anatomy of Gray and were into the idea of writing something lighter and brighter and closer to where we grew up. I followed them, figuring they'd do most of the heavy lifting and I'd mostly just cut and paste. I was wrong. Making anything that's any good is hard.

(Pictured: Jeremy Guskin and Erica Mae McNeal. Photo by John Dimitri)

Is there anything else you would like Broadway World readers to know about the production?

I grew up in Indiana. I went to college with Mike Pence. The world is that small. Like the VP, I spent quite a bit of time in church. He stayed in Indiana and eventually went into politics; I left Indiana and went a different way. But both points of view - Mr. Pence's and, obviously, my own, are shot through the bloodstream of this play.

Anatomy of Gray previews run November 17 and November 18 at 8 p.m. with performances running Nov. 19, 2022 - Jan. 21, 2023 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039 with free parking in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) lot one block south of the theater. Performance schedule:
• Fridays at 8 p.m. on Dec. 2; Dec. 9; Dec. 16; Jan 6; Jan 13; Jan 20 (dark Nov. 25; Dec. 23; Dec. 30)
• Saturdays at 8 p.m. on Nov. 19 (Opening Night); Nov. 26; Dec. 3. Dec. 10; Dec. 17; Jan 7; Jan 14; Jan 21 (dark Dec. 24; Dec. 31)
• Sundays at 3 p.m. on Nov. 20; Nov. 27; Dec. 4. Dec. 11; Dec. 18; Jan 8; Jan 15 (dark Dec. 18; Dec. 25; Jan. 1)
General Admission tickets at $30, Seniors $20, and Students $15, and can be ordered at www.openfist.org or by phone at (323) 882-6912. Available tickets will be sold at the theater box office prior to each performance. Anatomy of Gray is appropriate for ages 10+.

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