Jonathan Leaf
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Leaf is a playwright
and journalist
based out of New York City
. He is the writer
of the off-Broadway
play The Caterers, which was nominated for Best Full-Length Original Script of 2005-2006 in the Innovative Theater Awards.
In June 2006, he was featured in Time Out New York magazine in an article on America's most important young playwrights and compared to Nobel-Prize winning author
Saul Bellow
for his "literacy and seriousness".
Leaf's follow-up to The Caterers was The Germans In Paris. Praised by The New Yorker
, The Wall Street Journal
and Broadwayworld.com, among others, the play ran in January 2007 at the Upper West Side's Arclight Theater. During the course of its four-week run, it was the highest rated show in New York according to audience
surveys on the Theatermania website
.
A former New York City public school teacher, Leaf has written both about education and about the art
s and culture
for such publications as The Weekly Standard
, The New York Sun, The New Yorker
, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, The American and National Review
. Leaf has also been a contributor and editor at the Web journal New Partisan, and he has written for The New York Press
, where he served as the Arts editor
.
In 2009, Leaf published his first full-length nonfiction book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties, in which he attacks popular perceptions of the 1960s
as a radical decade dominated by hippie
s, rock music
and free love
.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
based out of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He is the writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
play The Caterers, which was nominated for Best Full-Length Original Script of 2005-2006 in the Innovative Theater Awards.
In June 2006, he was featured in Time Out New York magazine in an article on America's most important young playwrights and compared to Nobel-Prize winning author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
for his "literacy and seriousness".
Leaf's follow-up to The Caterers was The Germans In Paris. Praised by The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and Broadwayworld.com, among others, the play ran in January 2007 at the Upper West Side's Arclight Theater. During the course of its four-week run, it was the highest rated show in New York according to audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
surveys on the Theatermania website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
A former New York City public school teacher, Leaf has written both about education and about the art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
s and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
for such publications as The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
, The New York Sun, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, The American and National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
. Leaf has also been a contributor and editor at the Web journal New Partisan, and he has written for The New York Press
New York Press
New York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice...
, where he served as the Arts editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
.
In 2009, Leaf published his first full-length nonfiction book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties, in which he attacks popular perceptions of the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
as a radical decade dominated by hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
s, rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
.
External links
- Terror, Up-Close and Personal Review written by theater critic and author Terry TeachoutTerry TeachoutTerry Teachout is a critic, biographer and blogger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the chief culture critic of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal...
. - Catering off-off-Broadway Review written by theater critic and author Mark SteynMark SteynMark Steyn is a Canadian-born writer, conservative-leaning political commentator, and cultural critic. He has written five books, including America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, a New York Times bestseller...
. - http://www.jonathanleaf.weebly.com Official Website of the Author
- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116855351060074386.html?mod=weekend_journal_secondary_hs Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic Terry TeachoutTerry TeachoutTerry Teachout is a critic, biographer and blogger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the chief culture critic of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal...
. - http://www.edgenewyork.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=theatre&sc2=reviews&id=5774 Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic Steve Weinstein.
- http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=14866 Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic Duncan PflasterDuncan PflasterDuncan Pflaster is an American Off-Off-Broadway playwright, composer and actor. His first play Wilder and Wilder , was produced in 1995 at Florida Playwrights' Theatre in Hollywood, FL...
. - http://www.thecinemasource.com/v3/movieinfo.php?movieid=1538&wordcount=350 Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic Peter McKay.
- http://www.timeoutny.com/newyork/Details.do?page=6&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles1/557/features/the_not_ready_for_broadway_playwrights.xml Includes profile of Jonathan Leaf by New York Drama Critics Circle head Adam Feldman.
- New Partisan Archive of pieces written for NP.
- The Situation With Tucker Carlson Transcript of discussion panel involving Leaf.
- The Truth About Fashion Week