The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at Cinnabar Theater

Cinnabar Theater is continuing in the art of producing theater in the time of COVID-19 with another virtual streaming production of a one-character show The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.

This thoroughly thought-provoking and entertaining play opens Friday, JANUARY 22, 2021 and runs through JANUARY 31, 2021 with a total of nine streaming performances.

A one-character play, this production is an 80-minute monologue that begins with a detective from a small town on the Jersey Shore eager for a case that gets him out from behind his desk. He stumbles on the case of the sudden death of a gay youth, Leonard Pelkey. Digging deeper and deeper into Leonard's life, Chuck follows clues that lead him to unexpected places and show him how one boy's bravery can light the way toward truth.

The solo character brings to life several of the inhabitants of a colorful seaside town as they awaken to the beauty of being different. This play was produced Off Broadway at the Westside Theater in 2015 and then at The Globe in San Diego, the following year.

The playwright, James Lecesne, has a gift for ferreting out hope from anguish. In his 1994 short film "Trevor," a flamboyant 13-year-old Diana Ross super-fan survives a suicide attempt. After that work won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, Lecesne co-founded the Trevor Project, a 24-hour crisis hotline for LGBTQ youth.

Leonard Pelkey is played by North Bay actor, Mike Pavone and is directed by Cinnabar Theater's own Nathan Cummings.

Tickets are $30 and go on sale JANUARY 4th at www.cinnabartheater.org

Authors

• James Lecesne