A Library of Standing Ovations
In his work at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Brendan Leonard ’16 is creating access to the best of Broadway
Brendan Leonard ’16 never knows who will walk through the revolving doors at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Will it be a group of third graders ready to watch a Broadway show for the first time? Or greats like Steven Spielberg or Lin-Manuel Miranda researching their next award-winning project?
Leonard spent seven years as a technical assistant at the library, with a front-row seat to some of Broadway’s greatest performances.
Now, he has stepped into a new role as the library’s first education and outreach coordinator in the library’s Billy Rose Theatre Division. “I’m putting all of my hats together in this role at the library,” said Leonard. “This is a job that didn’t exist before, and it’s my job to make our materials more accessible to students in New York City. This archive is truly a one-of-a-kind collection of Broadway and off-Broadway shows, and I think we have so much potential to build more community.”
This role is by nature interdisciplinary—something he learned at Colby as a performance, theater, and dance and English double major. “I’m so grateful for a liberal arts approach to theater. I have always been super interested in acting, but Colby broadened my horizons and got me to think more deeply about the material as a scholar. Who knew I’d be in a position now combining both of my majors? I love that I get to combine my favorite subject matter, which is theater, and my academic training, which has served me well in my work here.”
A trove of Broadway hits
The library’s Billy Rose Theatre Division includes one of the largest collections of archives related to the performing arts, from first drafts of famous scripts to magazine clippings from opening night—and live recordings. The archive is only open to students and researchers, and watching a recording requires an appointment.
“The Theater on Film and Tape archive has recordings of Broadway and off-Broadway shows since 1970,” Leonard explained. “I started back in 2017, just a year out of Colby, and it was my job to assist researchers in the screening room. I got to help the widest range of patrons, from elementary schoolers seeing theater for the first time to legends like Julianne Moore coming in to research a play she was considering adapting for film or Nicole Scherzinger watching recordings of Sunset Boulevard to prepare for her role as Norma Desmond.”
With more than 8,000 materials to choose from, including 4,500 recorded productions, Leonard has a clear favorite: Shakespeare in the Park’s iconic production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, starring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Christopher Walken, among other stars. “I love that it’s outside, under the stars. It’s at this New York landmark, and I don’t think there’s ever been a more star-studded production. I mean, Natalie Portman shows up on a horse,” he said. “It’s one that gets watched often here at the archives, and one of my favorites.”
‘This work is very much continuing what I started at Colby.’
Brendan Leonard ’16
Though the archives call Lincoln Center home, they feel nothing like a traditional theatrical experience. “One of the greatest appeals of the archives for anyone doing research is that you can really compare different acting or staging choices,” Leonard said. “Obviously, it’s a very different experience than sitting in a live theater. But because these shows are so phenomenal, people forget they’re in a library. You’ll hear people laughing or clapping like a great audience member, even though the person next to them is watching a completely different show.”
At the library, Leonard launched the first after-school program where students work together to devise their own performance. Said Leonard, “This work is very much continuing what I started at Colby with my thesis project.”
He’s also leading the TOFT in Schools Initiative, bringing archival videos of Broadway and off-Broadway shows to schools throughout the NYC metropolitan area. It’s the first time these videos have been seen outside the archive, he noted.
Actor, dancer, stand-up comic
In between his full-time role and finishing his master’s in theater education from the City College of New York, Leonard finds time to step on stage as an actor, dancer, or lately, a stand-up comic. “I have so many artistic pursuits, which is challenging, but I do it because I love it,” he said. “I’ve had so many odd jobs performing, like appearing on a game show and as a movie extra, and doing improv and stand-up comedy.”
This busy lifestyle fuels his artistic practice as a performer and playwright. “I certainly learned how to be passionately busy at Colby, when you would wake up and could do a million different things in a day. And that lifestyle for me has kept going because I’m doing what I’m excited by, and because I’m learning every day,” he said. “I’m working at the archives during the day, and then doing stand-up most nights of the week or improv practice, or going to see a show. That’s part of what living in New York City is all about.”
Leonard combines what he’s passionate about every day, letting his work inspire his art and vice versa. “I identify as an artist, and I’m always working on a new idea for a play, a new world to think up. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away. I had the opportunity to try playwriting at Colby, and it’s always something I’ll come back to.”
He loves his work, and he is eager to share his enthusiasm. “I invite anyone from the Colby community to visit the Library for the Performing Arts. We’re celebrating our 60th birthday this year, so it’s a great time to visit.”
