Jonathan Leaf is a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

based out of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He is the

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

of the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

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 ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

'' magazine in an article on America's most important young playwrights and compared to

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

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'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' 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 An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

surveys on the Theatermania

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

. A New York City public school teacher, Leaf has written both about education and about the

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

s and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

for such publications as ''

The Weekly Standard ''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis, and commentary that was published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' was described as a ...

'', ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative Online newspaper, news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) onlin ...

'', ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'', ''

The New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format, and rea ...

'', ''The American'' and ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...

''. 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'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...

'', where he served as the Arts

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

. 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 A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

and

free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the State (polity), state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues we ...

. Leaf's 2017 play, ''The Fight,'' turned a spotlight on the internecine battles among Second Wave feminists. Leaf’s recent dramatic play “Pushkin,” premiered at New York's Sheen Center in the summer of 2018.

's Terry Teachout called it 'one of the best new plays to open in New York in recent memory.’ The National Association of Scholars President Peter Wood, in a review, wrote that it was 'an extraordinary achievement...Leaf has created a work that will stand the test of time.’ Teachout subsequently named the play one of his four best new plays of 2018. In March 2023, Leaf's debut novel, a mystery set in Hollywood, was published by Post Hill Press/Simon & Schuster. Entitled ''City of Angles,'' it received uniformly enthusiastic reviews with Kirkus saying that it was 'light, literary entertainment at its best—easily companionable, intelligent, and brimming with artful humor. A genuinely funny sendup...,' and ScenesMedia's Harold Fickett calling it 'brilliant', and commenting that it was 'a literary work at a deeper imaginative level than almost any mystery writer—much less comic mystery writer—I’ve ever encountered.

References

External links

Terror, Up-Close and Personal
Review written by theater critic and author

Terry Teachout Terrance Alan Teachout (February 6, 1956 – January 13, 2022) was an American author, critic, biographer, playwright, stage director, and librettist. He was the drama critic of ''The Wall Street Journal'', the critic-at-large of '' Commentary' ...

.
Catering off-off-Broadway
Review written by theater critic and author

Mark Steyn Mark Steyn () is a Canadian author and a radio, television, and on-line presenter. He has written several books, including The New York Times Best Seller list, ''The New York Times'' bestsellers ''America Alone'', ''After America (Steyn book), A ...

.

Official Website of the Author

Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic

.

Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic Steve Weinstein.

Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic

Duncan Pflaster Duncan Pflaster (born 1973) is an American off-off-Broadway playwright, composer and actor. His first play ''Wilder and Wilder'' (a transvestite adaptation of Alice in Wonderland), was produced in 1995 at Florida Playwrights' Theatre in Hollyw ...

.

Review of The Germans In Paris written by critic Peter McKay.

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaf, Jonathan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American dramatists and playwrights New York Press people The New Yorker people The New York Sun people