Honoree Kenny Leon

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Kenny Leon’s directorial credits span an incomparable range of work, from classic theatre, to drama, to comedy, to musicals, to musical revues, to film. He’s directed extensively around the country, including, among others, Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Boston’s Huntington Theatre, Connecticut’s Long Wharf Theatre and Hartford Stage, Baltimore’s Center Stage, Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group, Milwaukee Reparatory, New York’s Public Theatre, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, Seattle Reparatory, Georgia Shakespeare, San Jose Reparatory, Dallas Theatre Center, and Oregon Shakespeare.

Yet Atlanta will always be home. Kenny co-founded (and is Artistic Director of) True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta in 2002, in order to further his personal and professional mission of preserving and refreshing the African American classics, while also producing works from various times, cultures and perspectives.

Prior to founding True Colors, Kenny served an unprecedented 11-year tenure as Artistic Director of the Alliance Theatre Company, and commissioned and directed three new works from Pearl Cleage: Flyin’ West, Blues for an Alabama Sky, and Bourbon at the Border. Also while at the Alliance, Kenny produced the premieres of Disney’s and Elton John’s Elaborate Lives: the Legend of Aida, and Debbie Allen’s Soul Possessed.

He has directed three Broadway productions, beginning with the 2004 Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, which featured Sean Combs, Sanaa Lathan, Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad; the show garnered two Tony Awards, and for Kenny, a nomination for Outstanding Director by Boston’s Drama Desk Awards. His production of A Raisin in the Sun went on to register the highest-grossing box office sales for a drama in Broadway history. Since then, he directed August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (five Tony nominations) and Radio Golf (four Tony nominations).

In Fall 2006, Kenny directed the film A Raisin in the Sun, featuring the Broadway cast, set to air on ABC in February 2008. He directed the world premiere of Toni Morrison’s opera, Margaret Garner, working with Composer Richard Danielpour, Conductor Stefan Lano and featuring mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. Margaret Garner was produced at Michigan Opera Theatre, Cincinnati Opera (where it sold more tickets than any opera ever performed there) and Opera Company of Philadelphia. Next, Kenny will direct the stage adaptation of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, on Broadway in Fall 2008.

Kenny was chosen as one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in 2004, and was awarded the “Martell Cognac Rise Above Award” in 2005, honoring his artistry and entrepreneurial spirit. He was the “Face of Martell” for the ’05-’06 advertising campaign and has been featured on the back covers of GQ, Black Enterprise and Jet magazines. Kenny was chosen as one of the “Top 20 Southerners to Watch” by the Financial Times of London Magazine, received the Atlanta Business League Trailblazer Award, and the MIT Eugene McDermott Award, among many others.

A graduate and honorary Ph.D. of Clark Atlanta University, Kenny is also very active in the communities in which he lives and works. He directs True Colors Theatre Company’s annual, all-youth, multi-cultural production of The Wiz, offering Atlanta’s youth an unforgettable experience with a Broadway design team; he’s a member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta; for the Dekalb County, GA, school system, he directed Snapshots: From a Decade of Directing American Theatre, a retrospective of his directorial work performed by students from across the county; he sits on the Board of the New Globe Theatre, New York, NY; and is a mentor for the Theatre Development Fund’s Open Doors program, also in New York.

Kenny is Principal of KL Productions, and is a sought-after motivational and inspirational speaker with engagements at civic and arts associations, and corporations around the country.

The Georgia Arts & Entertainment Legacy Awards
are brought to you by the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts
in partnership with the Arts Leadership League of Georgia
The 2007 GAELA Awards
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