One Man's 'Pelkey': Author/Actor Plays Nine Characters
“The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey,” a play written by James Lecesne, who plays all nine characters, will begin a six-day run at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater on Monday at 8 p.m. Leonard is an orphaned gay 14-year-old who comes to live with his aunt, a hairdresser in a small New Jersey shore town. However, he is never seen; the story begins when the aunt reports his disappearance to a local detective.
Among the characters in the town who are affected by Leonard’s disappearance and murder are, in addition to the detective and the aunt, a withdrawn teenage girl, an old jeweler, a mobster’s widow, a sullen teenage boy, and the British proprietor of a dance-and-drama school.
While the story was not inspired by a specific event, Mr. Lecesne said, “There have been so many stories of L.G.B.T.Q. young people who have dared to be themselves and then found that they were not exactly welcome or were met with violence.” He cited the murders of Leticia King and Matthew Shepherd. “I think all of us, no matter who we are, remember that moment during adolescence when we suddenly came face to face with someone who didn’t like us for what we were.”
Mr. Lecesne wrote the screenplay for “Trevor,” an Academy Award-winning short film that inspired the Trevor Project, the only nationwide 24-hour suicide prevention and crisis intervention lifeline for L.G.B.T. and questioning youth. He has also created several other solo shows, including “Word of Mouth,” which was presented by Mike Nichols and Elaine May and directed by Eve Ensler; written three novels, and appeared in numerous New York plays, including the Broadway production of Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man.”
“I have a long history of solo shows,” he said. “It’s so much fun. Given that I perform without costume changes and without set changes, the audience becomes my co-creator in making the story. I provide the mental prompts and then, using their imaginations, the audience members design and build.”
Reviewing “Leonard Pelkey” when it opened at Dixon Place in New York City in 2015, the New York Times critic Charles Isherwood called it “a superlative solo show” and ranked Mr. Lecesne “among the most talented solo performers of his (or any) generation.”
Tony Speciale directs the production, with music by Duncan Sheik. A special benefit performance for Live Out Loud, which empowers L.G.B.T.Q. youth by connecting them to positive role models, will take place on July 23 at 5 p.m. Show times vary from day to day, and ticket prices start at $25. More information can be found and tickets purchased at baystreet.org. “Leonard Pelkey” will run at Bay Street concurrently with “The Last Night of Ballyhoo.”