He persuaded the women in the town they needed little black dresses in their wardrobes. He was very familiar with nail polish and lip gloss. He glued together flip-flops under a pair of Converse sneakers to make his own high-top shoes. While this isn’t confirmed, everyone has stories about Leonard being flamboyant and flouting gender expectations. Phoebe sums up the town’s impressions immediately, telling Chuck that Leonard was gay. The message of "Leonard Pelkey" is as subtle as Leonard’s multi-colored, sparkly platform high-top shoes. “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” follows in the footsteps of “The Laramie Project,” the 2002 docu-play that detailed the murder of a gay student in rural Wyoming, using theater to speak out against hate crimes. The playwright Celeste Lecesne, formerly known as James Lecesne, co-founded The Trevor Project, the first nationwide crisis intervention hotline for LGBTQ youth, and is clearly committed to inspiring broader acceptance for queer people. The real selling point of this one-man show, though, is the impressive performance by solo actor Marc D’Amico, who navigates the audience through an upsetting story about the death of a teenage boy, keeping them engaged and chuckling the full 80 minutes. “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey,” playing at Blackfriars Theatre through Feb. Matt D'Amico performs in the one-man show "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.".PHOTO BY RON HEERKENS JR./GOAT FACTORY MEDIA.
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