Leigh

Leigh Podgorski has worked as an actress, writer, director, producer, and teacher in the theatre for over twenty-five years. She graduated magna cum laude from New England College, Henniker, New Hampshire and Arundel, Sussex, England with a BA in Humanities/Theatre Arts, and recently completed her Masters in Humanities/Literature from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Her stage plays have been produced in Los Angeles, New York City and regionally. Amara was a semi-finalist for the Julie Harris Playwrighting Competition of the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild and a winner at the Dayton Playhouse 1996 Futurefest where it was awarded the Dayton Playhouse Blackburn Award of Excellence and subsequently submitted for a grant from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. They Dance to the Sun, the first play in a trilogy, was produced at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park, listed in Theatre Communications Group Play Source magazine, and nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Among the Shadows Haunting, the second piece, was short-listed for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference and the Royal Theatre Exchange in London. The trilogy was also submitted for a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays grant. Leigh had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross for her one-act play Windstorm, which was presented as part of the annual festival CelebrateWomen that Leigh also co-produced. We Are Still Here, the story of Cahuilla Indian elder Katherine Siva Saubel, was premiered at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum as part of CelebrateWomen 2000. The play has been presented throughout Southern California at college campuses, Universities, and Indian Reservations and Casinos. In addition to her plays, Leigh has penned several original screenplays including My Soul to Take, Act of Grace(winner, Women in Film and Video Screenwriting Competition) Western Song (Finalist Chesterfield Competition, Christopher Columbus Screenwriting Awards), Headed North to Baghdad (Finalist Moondance Competition) and Ouray’s Peak,(Quarter Finalist Scriptapalooza, Finalist Outstanding Thesis of the Year) adapted from her trilogy. Leigh is a prime writer for the Internet Web site TheMonologueShop.com, and an adjunct instructor at Glendale Community College. Several of her monologues have been published through Meriwether Publishing, Ltd.. Subsequent performances include the Sherman Indian School in Riverside, CA, UCLA, the International NoHo Theatre and Arts Festival, the Indian Cultural Awareness Conference at Cal State San Bernardino, and the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino, the Native American Culture and Arts Conference at Idyllwild Arts, the California Indian Conference at Chaffey College and Palomar College, and at the University of California, Riverside, in honor of Mrs. Saubel’s Chancellor’s Award.go to www.underthehillproductions.com for more on the documentary and to purchase the DVD