Absolute Brightness

This show is one of the most brilliant plays I’ve seen in a while. It’s definitely in my top 10 of all time favorite plays. This play is humorous, sad, dark, heartbreaking, bright, hopeful, heartwarming, moving, emotional, and through all of this, I was able to feel The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.
This play is a one-​man show where all the characters in the play were all seamless portrayed and performed by Mr. James Lecesne. The performance itself was pretty amazing. I was completely mesmerized by Mr. Lecesne’s ability to tell a great story. What is more amazing to me is I found out that Mr. Lecesne adapted his 2008 young adult novel «Absolute Brightness» to create a brand new show. Mr. Lecesne is an amazing talent.
Through all the characters, a story is told about a 14-​year old boy named Leonard Pelkey who disappeared in a small town along the Jersey shore. Only after Leonard Pelkey’s disappearance does everyone in town realize how much he meant to all the characters. Each character in the play reveals to the audience who Leonard is/​was. I found myself in tears a few times. Mr. Lecesne’s masterful storytelling really moved me. I was hanging onto his every word.
By the end of the play I said to myself, was Leonard Pelkey a real boy? I had to google it right away as soon as I could.
I highly recommend this play to anyone who ever felt like an outsider at least once in their lives. This play is a limited engagement so if you plan on seeing this show, do it soon. The last show will be on November 1^st. I hope you feel as touched by the show as I did.