A. Emmanuel Leadon

A. Emmanuel Leadon

A. Emmanuel Leadon is a writer, portraitist, and cartoonist from Dallas, whose art investigates mythologies and reframes them around topics of sexuality, class, and race. His theatrical works have been featured by Play Penn (youngest admittee to date), the Great Plains Theater Conference, the National New Play Network, Kitchen Dog, and Quick Silver Theater Company. He has been a Haas Fellow, a finalist for the...
A. Emmanuel Leadon is a writer, portraitist, and cartoonist from Dallas, whose art investigates mythologies and reframes them around topics of sexuality, class, and race. His theatrical works have been featured by Play Penn (youngest admittee to date), the Great Plains Theater Conference, the National New Play Network, Kitchen Dog, and Quick Silver Theater Company. He has been a Haas Fellow, a finalist for the Many Voices Fellowship, a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Fellowship, and shortlisted for the Relentless Award. He is an alumnus of Yale College and the Townview School for the Talented and Gifted.

Plays

  • Cave Canem by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Recommendations: 6
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: forgiveness, racial anxiety + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, experimental
    Keyword: forgiveness, racial anxiety, evolution, working class, the closet, co-parenting, Politics, Adolescence, stereotypes, southern gothic
    On one of the darkest nights of his life, Jermichael cut off his lifelong friendship with his next-door neighbor. Two years later, the neighbor has adopted his nephew, a dog, and Jermichael has just been granted partial custody of his son, a human. The former best friends attempt to bottle their resentments before their collective rage takes complete control.
  • Spare Rib by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: terminal illness, grief + 5 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: terminal illness, grief, black Christianity, Christian mythology, survivor guilt, self-worth, black wealth
    Kane and Able, sisters and roommates born into wealth, have been burdened with the daily care of their big brother Seth, who has come down with a serious yet unidentifiable disease. As Seth's fortieth and potentially final birthday approaches, Kane and Able are surprised to learn that their mother is as eager to change the status quo as they are.
  • The Easy Way by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    8–10
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: media representation, black wealth + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, satire
    Keyword: media representation, black wealth, Art and Artists, step children, infidelity, Adolescence, Hollywood, gender
    Bacon is going through it. Junior year kicked his ass. He needs to take the SAT again. His waves aren't coming in. His ex is tarnishing his reputation. He dresses poor. He needs to elevate his fashion sense. He can't get his father's voice out of his head. And his stepmother will be damned if this story becomes his.
  • This Means War by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: affirmative action, public education + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, satire
    Keyword: affirmative action, public education, racial anxiety, child abuse, media, war, authority, corruption, college, high school
    Quinta is a senior at an elite university. She keeps her head down, minds her business, and quietly maintains summa cum laude status. Five months before graduation, her meticulously planned future is thrown into jeopardy when her high school is embroiled in a globally publicized scandal. She must confront her past and swing public opinion in her favor, and doesn't have time to take mercy on those who dare stand in her way.
  • Rid of Me by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: vampires, demons + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, horror, musical, satire
    Keyword: vampires, demons, afterlife, Sex, submission, dominance, masochism, gaytriarchy
    Something insidious is lurking around DFW this Pride Month. The targets were marked from birth and it's only a matter a time before they're captured. It is now up to one of the few demonology students in the area to discover a solution before even more lives are lost.
  • Blackerface by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    11
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: whitewashing, virtue signaling + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, parody/spoof, satire
    Keyword: whitewashing, virtue signaling, high school, media representation, allyship, diversity, insecurity, activism, Shakespeare
    An ambitious, enlightened aspiring director casts an inexperienced underclassman as the titular character in her high school production of Othello. An ambitious, entitled aspiring actor loses out on a dream role. All hell breaks loose.
  • Face of the True God by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, satire
    ·
    Keyword: divorce, fame + 6 more
    Genre: drama, satire
    Keyword: divorce, fame, stan culture, pop music, memory, filial piety, aging, nonlinear
    An overnight teen sensation and gay icon is closing out her first world tour. Days before she is set to arrive at her father's apartment for a sabbatical, her other father and a family friend invade seeking asylum of their own.
  • Defunct by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: protest, activism + 8 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: protest, activism, respectability politics, freedom of speech, first amendment, grief, transgenerational trauma, teamwork, fame, sports
    Soon after two concurrent tragedies, four professional athletes arrive early to their locker room before the first playoff game. Internal and interpersonal tensions boil over when one makes an announcement threatening the team's prospects.
  • Bliss Is Bliss by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: denial, addiction + 2 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: denial, addiction, Dystopia, Cults
    Seba's friend group is holding its annual reunion soon. Stuck in rehab, Seba pays their estranged sibling Ayo to attend the conference in their stead. Ayo finds the assembled company courteous, intellectually stimulating, and oddly, inexorably optimistic. What begins as a much-needed vacation gradually devolves into a febrile nightmare from which there may be no escape.
  • Rosin by A. Emmanuel Leadon
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    ·
    Keyword: busking, street performance + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: busking, street performance, urban, Childhood, grief
    A brother-sister busking duo takes a break on a sweltering summer afternoon.