Sample
  • The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey

  • By: Celeste Lecesne
  • Narrated by: Celeste Lecesne
  • Length: 1 hr and 2 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (9,678 ratings)

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The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey

By: Celeste Lecesne
Narrated by: Celeste Lecesne
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Publisher's summary

Writer of the Academy award-winning short Trevor, founder of The Trevor Project (a 24-hour nationwide crisis hotline for LGBTQIA+ youth), and stage and screen actor, Celeste Lecesne performs their hit off-Broadway play, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. This live performance of a powerful police procedural comes to life through the artistry of Celeste Lecesne and is accompanied by the original music of Duncan Sheik. Celeste portrays every character in a small Jersey Shore town as they unravel the story of Leonard Pelkey, a tenaciously optimistic and flamboyant 14-year-old boy who has gone missing. A luminous force of nature whose magic is only truly felt once he is gone, Leonard becomes an unexpected inspiration as the town’s citizens question how they live, who they love, and what they leave behind.

Brash detective Chuck DeSantis seeks out answers as to why Leonard is missing. Along the way, questions about the teen’s sexuality force members of the community to confront their own biases and beliefs. This poetic piece of audio leads listeners down an important path towards understanding and acceptance. The entire town changes forever because of Leonard Pelkey—a character originally from Celeste Lecesne’s young adult book Absolute Brightness that inspired the play. This whodunit brims with humor and heart and delivers a deeply important message about love, prejudice, and being yourself.

The New York Times raved that The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey "...leave[s] you beaming with joy...a superlative solo show...Lecesne is a writer of wit and keen observational skills, who here unfolds a dark tale that shimmers with the needling suspense you associate with the best police procedurals."

Written and performed by Celeste Lecesne

Sound design by Christian Frederickson

Original music by Duncan Sheik

Note: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey contains adult language.

©2019 Celeste Lecesne (P)2019 AO Media LLC
  • Performance
  • Categories: LGBTQ+

Go Behind the Scenes with Celeste Lecesne

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Publisher's summary

Writer of the Academy award-winning short Trevor, founder of The Trevor Project (a 24-hour nationwide crisis hotline for LGBTQIA+ youth), and stage and screen actor, Celeste Lecesne performs their hit off-Broadway play, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. This live performance of a powerful police procedural comes to life through the artistry of Celeste Lecesne and is accompanied by the original music of Duncan Sheik. Celeste portrays every character in a small Jersey Shore town as they unravel the story of Leonard Pelkey, a tenaciously optimistic and flamboyant 14-year-old boy who has gone missing. A luminous force of nature whose magic is only truly felt once he is gone, Leonard becomes an unexpected inspiration as the town’s citizens question how they live, who they love, and what they leave behind.

Brash detective Chuck DeSantis seeks out answers as to why Leonard is missing. Along the way, questions about the teen’s sexuality force members of the community to confront their own biases and beliefs. This poetic piece of audio leads listeners down an important path towards understanding and acceptance. The entire town changes forever because of Leonard Pelkey—a character originally from Celeste Lecesne’s young adult book Absolute Brightness that inspired the play. This whodunit brims with humor and heart and delivers a deeply important message about love, prejudice, and being yourself.

The New York Times raved that The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey "...leave[s] you beaming with joy...a superlative solo show...Lecesne is a writer of wit and keen observational skills, who here unfolds a dark tale that shimmers with the needling suspense you associate with the best police procedurals."

Written and performed by Celeste Lecesne

Sound design by Christian Frederickson

Original music by Duncan Sheik

Note: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey contains adult language.

©2019 Celeste Lecesne (P)2019 AO Media LLC
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Our favorite moments from The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey

  • The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
  • Reporting Leonard missing
  • The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
  • Searching for hope
  • The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
  • Leonard’s super power
Celeste Lecesne

About the Creator and Performer

Celeste Lecesne wrote the short film Trevor, which won the 1995 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short and inspired the founding of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide 24-hour suicide prevention and crisis intervention Lifeline for LGBTQIA+ and questioning youth. He created The Road Home: Stories of Children of War, which was presented at the International Peace Initiative at The Hague, and produced the documentary film, After the Storm, about the lives of 12 young people living in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Celeste adapted Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of The City series and was a writer on the series Will & Grace. He has written three novels for young adults and created The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to Their Younger Selves. As an actor, Celeste has appeared on TV in Sex and the City, on Broadway in The Best Man, and off-Broadway in The Boys in The Band, Cloud 9, One Man Band, Word of Mouth (Drama Desk Award), and The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (Outer Critics Circle Award). Celeste brilliantly performs every character in the audio version of his hit play The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.

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