Images: 
Total Rating: 
***1/2
Opened: 
February 21, 2015
Ended: 
February 21, 2015
Country: 
USA
State: 
Florida
City: 
Sarasota
Company/Producers: 
SaraSolo Festival 2015 / Gotta Van Productions
Theater Type: 
Regional
Theater: 
Crocker Memorial Church
Theater Address: 
1260 Twelfth Street
Phone: 
941-323-1360
Website: 
gottavan.org
Running Time: 
75 min
Genre: 
Autobiographical Solo
Author: 
Blake Walton
Director: 
Ann Morrison
Review: 

His insistence that he’s a man, to be thus recognized, introduces Blake Walton’s autobiographical drama, Leading Men. It goes full circle from his problematic relationship to his father through his relationship to his son and round to a true understanding at last of his father. They forge the last link with mutual acceptance.

Despite his emphasis on fathering, Walton paints an admiring picture of his mother. She raised him and three siblings under tough conditions but became a prominent educator. Walton credits her with encouraging his self-expression. It’s certainly on display throughout Leading Men.

Walton’s performance is unencumbered by props or projections, so often employed in presentations like his. He creates the scenes of his drama by his telling it in well-chosen words and gesture.

Cast: 
Blake Walton
Miscellaneous: 
This was part of the inaugural SaraSolo Festival 2015. The play and production won the Best Premiere Award at the United Solo Festival in NYC in 2013.
Critic: 
Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed: 
February 2015