The Reading of “LEONARDO”

On Saturday I had the privilege of attending the private reading of a brand new play called “LEONARDO” by Francis Xavier Dumont, in which my husband was asked to participate. It’s the story of a young Leonardo da Vinci, one of history’s most quintessential “renaissance men,” during a little known, but significant and influential period of his life. Here’s a brief synopsis from the prologue of the script:

Leonardo da Vinci was once young and handsome. At the age of 24, he was awakened to the wonder of physical love and the wickedness of human society when he was accused of crimes against nature in the spring of 1476. Fifty years later, Giorgio Vasari, the great biographer of renaissance artists, discovered the written accusation in the archives of the Dominican friars. He searches out the still living Jacopo Saltarelli, who was accused with Leonardo of sodomy. Jacopo relates the events of that time, including his brief love affair with the young genius. These true events play out against a tapestry of political intrigue and murder…

The play was written to accommodate either a full 23 person cast, or a 10 person cast with each person (except for Leonardo) playing multiple roles. The latter is how it was done for this particular reading. Cast members included some of our most talented local actors: Lysander Abadia (as a young Leonardo da Vinci); Sean Critchfield (young Jacopo Saltarelli, Augustino, Assassin); Brian Scott (Lorenzo de Medici, Dominican Friar, Old Jacopo Saltarelli); Jay Joseph (Hercule Tornabuoni, Giorgio Vasari, Soldier); John Ivanoff (The Archbishop of Pisa, Andrea del Verrocchio); Ron Smith (Ser Piero da Vinci, Ruffian, Francesco de Pazzi); Barbara King (Lucrezia de Medici, Caterina’s Mother); Cindi Harper (Giovanna Tornabuoni, Prostitute #1); Courtney Sheets (Caterina, Prostitute #2); and Lisa Illia (Nona, Madam Alfonsina).

With Francis Xavier Dumont, Author

Okay, I have a confession to make… I normally do NOT enjoy attending non-musical productions. Particularly readings of plays where I don’t even have the luxury of beautiful costumes or scenery to look at! Now, I realize that makes me sound terribly uncultured…but alas, it is true. I get bored very, very easily…I confess.

So you need to understand how surprised I am to tell you that I really enjoyed this play! It actually kept my interest the entire time…which says a lot about the writing (and, of course, about the actors portraying the characters)! So CONGRATULATIONS to Francis Xavier Dumont and the entire cast on a job well done. I look forward to seeing the FULL production when it finally goes up…whenever that will be. I know the script has been submitted to several places, so I sincerely hope it gets picked up soon. Kudos to everyone involved!