Luke Landric Leonard is a director, actor, and writer whose work spans the performing and visual arts. His stage productions have been described as "taking creditable gambles...outstanding" by The New York Times, “bold and experimental...a clear vision...pure theatrical experience” by nytheatre.com, and "visually arresting" by The Austin American-Statesman.  He is the Artistic Director of Monk Parrots, a New York-based nonprofit experimental theatre company. Nytheatre-wire.com compared Monk Parrots to “young artist revolutionaries.”

His playwriting, direction, and production designs have been developed and produced at 59E59 Theaters, Dixon Place, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council: The Vaults at 14 Wall Street, Symphony Space, Teatrino delle Sei (Spoleto, Italy), Teatro Elfo Puccini (Milano, Italy), Cantiere Oberdan (Spoleto, Italy), Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, d.u.m.b.o. arts center (dac), DUMBO Theater eXchange (DTX), Little Theatre, Brooklyn Information & Culture/BRIC Studio, Post Theatre Company, the Harry Ransom Center, and The Blanton Museum of Art.

He founded DUMBO Theater eXchange (DTX), a performance venue in Brooklyn devoted to the presentation of new works and emerging artists, created and curated a monthly theatre series for Brooklyn Information & Culture/BRIC Studio, and served three years as theatre coordinator for the annual DUMBO Arts Festival.

He studied with legendary director, Joseph Chaikin, trained with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, directed plays for experimental writers Mac Wellman and Jeffrey M. Jones, and worked for internationally acclaimed avant-garde director Robert Wilson on his production, Sonnets, at The Berliner Ensemble in Germany.

His installation, video art, and solo performance work has been included in group exhibitions in Texas and Italy. His short films have been presented in New York at The Knitting Factory, Throckmorton Fine Art, and DUMBO Theater eXchange.

Directing credits include: Bum Phillips, a collaboration with playwright Kirk Lynn and composer Peter Stopschinski of the nationally acclaimed Austin-based collaborative, Rude Mechs (La MaMa) , After an Earlier Incident: A Dyschronic Romeo & Juliet, with playwright David Todd (La MaMa), Here I Go (59E59 Theaters), Opera Moderne's production of Benjamin Britten's opera, The Turn of the Screw (Symphony Space), Pulitzer Prizewinning composer David Lang and multi award winning playwright Mac Wellman’s opera, The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (nominated for eight 2010 Austin Critics’ Table Awards including “Best Opera” and ranked No. 4 on Austin Chronicle’s "Top Ten Theatrical Wonders of 2010"), and the first Italian translation of Israel Horovitz’s The Indian Wants the Bronx presented in several cities across Italy and praised for “a careful work on the body of the actors…every element exuded energy” by Fucine Mute Web Magazine.

Upcoming projects include the world premiere musical-play,
Welcome to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (59E59 Theaters, New York), a collaboration with composer Peter Stopschinski and Obie Award winning theatre maker, Katie Pearl; Here I Go at the 2015 ACT Festival in Bilbao, Spain; Bum Phillips: Workshop B at Sam Houston State University; and Follow Me Down, a feature film with musicians Justin Collins (Justin and the Cosmics) and Kim and Scott Collins (The Smoking Flowers) about finding inspiration in unlikely places.

Luke is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, Compagnia Horovitz-Paciotto (Italy), Dramatists Guild of America, and currently serves as Adjunct Associate Professor of Theatre at Long Island University-Post Campus.  Luke Leonard/Monk Parrots are recipients of a 2014 Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant, 2013 and 2011 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space Artist Residencies, 2013 HatchFund Grant, 2012 USA Projects Grant, and a 2012 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from Brooklyn College and a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied theatre directing and studio art.

http://www.monkparrots.org

http://www.bumphillipsopera.com