James Lecesne's The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey Will Play Off-Broadway

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, written and performed by James Lecesne, will play off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre this summer. The play will begin on July 9 and open on July 23. Tony Speciale will direct the limited engagement, which is scheduled to run through October 4.

Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik will provide original music for the piece, which is inspired by Lecesne’s novel Absolute Brightness. The play previously ran at the Lower East Side’s Dixon Place.

Lecesne wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning short Trevor. The film inspired the creation of The Trevor Project, a co-founded by Lecesne. His previous solo shows include Word of Mouth and One Man Band; he has also appeared on stage in The Best Man on Broadway and Cloud 9, Boys in the Band and Motherhood Out Loud off-Broadway.

In The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pekley, Lecesne takes on every character in a small Jersey shore town, where Leonard, an optimistic and flamboyant 14-year-old, goes missing. He becomes an unexpected inspiration as the town’s citizens question how they live.