Meet Leslie Kimbell | Playwright

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leslie Kimbell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leslie, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Because I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. Being artistic and creative makes me happy.

From the time I could stand I was putting on a show…and I never stopped. Theatre is my passion and theatre is MAGIC.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I had a moment…in a Waffle House believe it or not… in a conversation with a dear friend and mentor who happened to be a senior citizen….she told the most amazingly funny and crude joke totally out of character. It really made me think about how great it would be to write a play that centered on the relationships of senior women and how they relate to each other when no one else is looking.
I had often overheard conversations between my Grandmother “Nannie” DeVries and her sister…my Great Aunt “Sissy” Bumpus.
They too inspired so much of my characters in FOUR OLD BROADS .

Writing the play was the easy part. I completed my first draft in about three months. I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote….typing away on my computer like a crazy person.
The reading of my first draft was almost three hours long.
That’s when the hard part beings…the cutting…the revision…the chopping out of huge pieces of your work. All the while I was shopping it around and trying to find someone that might find it interesting.
Somehow, in the 2015/2016 time period…Four Old Broads managed to simultaneously win two new works festivals in Greenville South Carolina and Victoria Texas….and have a World Premiere at my wonderful home theatre company Winder-Barrow Community Theatre and have an AEA Workshop in NYC at The Cherry Lane Theatre.

Four Old Broads was published in 2018 with Samuel French Inc.

It has been a roller coaster ride…with over seventy productions since 2018 (with none in 2020) across the country, Canada and England.

I am also excited that Samuel French Inc….which is now a part of Concord Theatricals Inc…has published the two sequels FOUR OLD BROADS ON THE HIGH SEAS and THE MISS MAGNOLIA SENIOR CITIZEN BEAUTY PAGEANT.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would definitely try to catch shows at OnStage Atlanta, Horizon Theatre Company or Atlanta Lyric Theatre….

An afternoon in Piedmont Park and The Atlanta Botanical Gardens is a must do!
The orchid house at ABG is one of my most favorite places on earth.
Then I would make sure my friends see the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Park and The Fernbank Museum

I love love love to antique, consign and thrift shop and so my friends and I always end up on Cheshire Bridge Road at all the cute shops there. I love Antiques and Beyond at 1853 Cheshire Bridge….and then we would definitely stop in to Out of the Closet Thrift at 1858 Cheshire Bridge…where the proceeds benefit free HIV testing and education…and then head over to Lost and Found Youth to dig through all the awesome stuff at 2585 Chantilly Dr…where all the proceeds benefit Atlanta’s homless LGBTQ Youth…many who have been thrown out of their homes simply for being gay

Let me tell you…you can prop, costume and set dress the hell out of a show at a thrift store!

Before going out to dinner…I would call to see if my cutie patootie Macauley Rogers could squeeze me in at his salon suite Midtown Queen in Ansley Salon Suites at Ansley Mall for a blowout. He’s always booked…but I’ll try.

Then…since my friends and I are totally laid back…we would head somewhere really low key and fun for dinner…like Folk Art. OMG they make these margaritas with JAM in them. You pick thr flavor!! It’s soooo good….really yummy little bites too.
Of course we could always go to Bellina Alimentari in Ponce City Market…because you haven’t lived if you haven’t had their Carbonara Pasta.
If it’s Brunch…we will be at Rising Son in Avondale Estates…because it is awesome…fun…laid back and totally artsy. After brunch you can check out the artist shop next door!

I love it!!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Special SHOUTOUTS to Del Shores – Joy Smith – Kenny Wade Marshall – Billie Nye-Muller – Léland Karas – Scott Kimbell – Winder-Barrow Community Theatre and OnStage Atlanta

Website: Lesliekimbell.com

Facebook: Leslie Kimbell Playwright

Other: Concordtheatricals.com

Image Credits
Joseph Lavender and Dwayne Boyd