Author, Playwright,   Producer

Biography

Leonard has been writing all his life in many different genres including plays, short stories, novels, science fiction, children’s books and nature. Writing for theatre is his first love; besides creating plays, he’s enjoyed producing, directing, acting and providing technical support to productions.

Leonard has written many full length and one act plays. His full length play Laramie, Equal Rights won the Shoreline Readers Theater 2010 award and enjoyed a run with the Little Victory Players in Hancock New York in 2011. The full length Clara won a Shoreline Readers Theater 2011 award in Washington State and enjoyed a development production of 20 performances at the Eclectic Theater, Seattle, WA, in 2013. Road Rage won both the Audience Appreciation award and the Judge’s Award at the Edmonds short play festival at the Driftwood Players' hWade James Theater in 2011. It was featured at the Changing Scene Festival, Bremerton in 2011, and with the Seattle Theater Readers in 2011. Road Rage and Apartment 4G, another Goodisman play, won awards at the Wild Fire one act festival, 2011. Apartment 4G and Hostage were both produced in New York in 2011. Taking Charge was produced in Seoul. Kill Him was also performed at Seattle Theatre Readers in Sept. 2011.

Between 2011 and 2014, full lengths Laramie, Clara, and Checkoff In The Sun have enjoyed 20 performance development productions in Seattle; short plays Taking Charge, Dr. Z and Boris P, Top Secret, Apt. 4G, Putting Up The Shed, and the Window were produced in Seattle; part of the Gate was read publicly. During the same period, Apt. 4G, Rest, Life In The Projects, Top Secret, Lunch In The Afterworld, Road Rage, Judith, and Rudolph, and Flight of Fancy have been produced in New York. Several productions are scheduled for 2015. Several other plays have been produced in New York and in the Seattle, Washington area, while others have been read at writers’ workshops, and some at festivals.

This September, 2015, Leonard introduced an acting seminar at Eclectic Theater bringing the Stella Adler approach to acting to the Seattle community in a way it was not previously available.

In 2017, we lost the Eclectic Theater to the pressure for urban gentrification and higher profits and I'm out looking for new connections and another home, another theater to work with.

Vision

In Leonard’s view, theatre can be so much more than it often is; it can bring the audience insight, understanding and emotional involvement transcending everyday life. Leonard seeks theater companies and audiences who are open to the thoughtful and fun involvement his plays can provide. He wants his audiences to be drawn in and changed in some way as a result of having experienced his plays.

Currently, his efforts are focussed on establishing a repertory theatre devoted to women in history.  Leonard has written several plays about  historical events where women appear as heroines or change agents. To advance this endeavor, he has established SOG, Seeds of Greatness.