- December 25, 2024
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by: Jerri Berry
President, Flagler Playhouse
"The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey" is a remarkable play written, narrated and performed by James Lecense, who played all the characters. Flagler Workshop Theater presents a full cast portraying what Lecense did alone.
Everything changes when Leonard Pelkey arrives in Neptune, New Jersey, to live with his cousin Phoebe and her mom, who owns the local hair salon.
Leonard is an orphan, a cousin Phoebe never knew she had. When he comes to live with Phoebe’s family, he upsets the delicate balance of their lives. He’s gay and confident about who he is. He inspires the people around him. He sees people not as they are, but as they hope to be.
One day, Leonard goes missing, and his rainbow sneaker is found. Fearing the worst, Phoebe, her family, and her community fight to understand what happened, and to make sense of why someone might want to extinguish the beautiful absolute brightness that was Leonard Pelkey. We never know how truly special someone is until they are gone.