October 12 – November 5, 2023
Island City Stage
www.IslandCityStage.org
Stepping back into the spotlight for a 12th season, Island City Stage is committed to sharing stories of universal interest and engaging diverse audiences with entertaining, challenging, and inspiring productions, often exploring LGBTQ+ culture. The theater company’s 2023-2024 opener will be Terrence McNally’s Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning play, Love! Valour! Compassion!
Playing October 12 – November 5, 2023, Love! Valour! Compassion! follows eight gay friends who spend the holidays over one summer at one’s beautiful 100-year-old house in upstate New York. Michael Leeds, Island City Stage’s associate artistic director, will be directing this hilarious and touching dramedy full of love, laughs, and betrayal, and he took some time to talk more about it with OutClique.
Denny Patterson: Let me begin by asking, how excited are you for Love! Valour! Compassion! to be Island City Stage’s 2023-2024 opener?
Michael Leeds: I’m very, very excited! I saw Love! Valour! Compassion! back in 1995, the New York production, and it always stuck with me. I love Terrence McNally, he’s one of our jewels, and the production is terrific. I think especially for our audience, for those who remember it, they’ll be eager to see it. Then for those who don’t, they’re in for a wonderful play. It’s funny, it’s sexy, and it’s touching. It’s about seven gay men, and there’s quite a bit of nudity, but nothing that’s not justified. McNally will have you laughing one minute, but he knows how to piece the heart in the next. I love that, and that kind of keeps the audience on their toes. They never know what’s coming next. So, I’m excited that Island City Stage chose to put on this production, but I’ll be honest with you. It’s incredibly challenging. I’ve directed a lot of musicals, and executing this is very complex.
Denny Patterson: As the show’s director, what is your vision for it?
Michael Leeds: I think I can best answer that by actually quoting McNally. He wanted to write about what it’s like to be a gay man in 1995, and I will relay that today, but just for background, in 1995, there hadn’t yet been Will & Grace. There had been Boys in the Band, The Normal Heart, and Angels in America, but nothing like this, where he said, ‘I wanted to tell my friends how much they meant to me, and I wanted to tell everyone else who we are when they aren’t around.’ I love that quote because for the gay population, our friends are our family, and this is what he shows on stage. I think it relates today, not only because there was the AIDS epidemic going around at that time, but there now seems to be an epidemic of singling out the LGBTQ+ community as being different. We’re called groomers, and I think it’s important that we show this normalcy, when we’re funny and sexy. There’s this scene where two men have been together for 14 years, and they’re trimming each other’s ears. I hope our audiences come and see this true experience of gay men simply living their lives.
Denny Patterson: What is the overall message you hope audiences take away from the show?
Michael Leeds: That we’re survivors. That’s what I ultimately see in this. We’re survivors, and we’re friends and family. That’s what I’ve experienced in my own life, so I think our audiences will truly relate to that as well.
Denny Patterson: In addition to directing, you also have a background as a writer and Broadway performer. Do you consider that you’re all of those equally, or one of them more than the other?
Michael Leeds: I started off as a Broadway dancer, and then I moved into choreography, but then I moved into acting and directing. It’s funny when you find your home. I remember the first day that I was directing, it was during this workshop, and it was suddenly like, oh, this is why I’m here! It just felt so natural. Then writing came when Linda Yellen moved in next door to me while I was living in New York’s West Village. She was a very successful director and producer for film and TV, so I started working with her. At first, it was just helping to rewrite some scripts she was working with, then I started to write them full-on. I also started to write some plays. Writing is great, but it can be very isolating. I like collaboration. I always analogize directing to volleyball, with me as captain (laughs). We’re all in it, and I love that. I also love working with actors. I always say actors are like detectives looking for clues for their characters, and in doing so, it’s a wonderful way that we expose parts of humanity to other people. So, in short, directing and writing for film.
Denny Patterson: You have also worked with several famous performers throughout your career. Who was the best?
Michael Leeds: I would say Liza Minnelli was the best because she was so giving. She’s such a lovely woman, and also at that time, she and Halston produced my cabaret act. I saw how she was dealing with fame and family, and we just all fell in love with her. She would invite us to her dressing room every time someone famous came, so I met Jackie Onassis, Marlene Deitrich, and it was just so giving of her to do that. I owe a great deal to her.
Denny Patterson: Will you be involved with any other Island City Stage shows this upcoming season?
Michael Leeds: Yes, I’m directing the next show after this called Which Way to the Stage, which is a very funny piece. It’s about a gay man and woman who are both fans of Idina Menzel, and while they’re standing outside one of her Broadway shows, they meet a guy who they both fall for.
Denny Patterson: Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you’d like to mention or plug?
Michael Leeds: I have a movie that will, hopefully, be going into production once the strike is over. It’s called One Stupid Thing, and I just recently finished writing it. So, that’s the next film coming out for me, and I’m very excited about that!
To stay up-to-date with Leeds, visit LeedsWorkshop.net. For more information and to purchase tickets for Love! Valour! Compassion!, visit IslandCityStage.org.
