‘Burning Leaves’: world premiere of Tom Rowan’s new play opens tonight in New York

The world premiere of the new play ‘Burning Leaves’, written by Tom Rowan and directed by Graydon Gund, opens tonight, Wednesday September 30, in New York, as BroadwayWorld reports. The production, presented by New York’s historic LGBTQIA+ theatre company TOSOS, takes the stage at the Gural Theatre of A.R.T./New York Theatres, at 502 West 53rd Street, with a total of 16 performances until October 17.

At the centre of the play is Matt Leland, a young actor who, in search of a fresh start, leaves New York and takes a job as a teacher at a high school in a small Midwestern town. There, unprepared for the challenges awaiting him, he encounters his most talented pupil, Jesse Wade, a troubled 16-year-old who is on the verge of ‘coming out’ and who, isolated in a conservative small town, desperately needs a role model and other things that Matt may or may not be able to offer.

According to BroadwayWorld, ‘Burning Leaves’ is a play that is at once funny and moving, raising serious questions about education, friendship and love. Director Gund describes it as by turns funny and devastating, making audiences laugh, tear up and feel for characters as they struggle through shifting social and political terrain, and as a play about balancing a connection with another person who needs you — and how that will be perceived.

The six-actor cast consists of Brady Dalton Richards, Campbell Idol, Annemarie Rosano, Jonathan Stewart, Sophie Tananbaum and Becky Rusch, with the participation of Actors’ Equity Association. Performances run Wednesday to Saturday at 19:00 and Sundays at 14:00; tickets cost $45–70 (plus fees), and the running time is two hours plus a 15-minute intermission.

The play was developed as part of TOSOS’s ‘Doric Wilson Playwrights Project’, a reading series celebrating writers from across LGBTQIA+ history, presenting works by past generations of playwrights alongside today’s, according to BroadwayWorld.