Before the 19th century, the Greek word stasis meant sedition. The word revolution did not exist. Exploring the roots of everything he saw around him, James Leaf invites us to consider the origin of art, the uses of conversation, the meaning of solidarity, and the plurality of the self. Beyond the moral passion of dramas he directed, even at his lowest moments, Leaf records feeling “the germ of some stubborn genius.”

The late James Leaf, a New York director, actor, and writer, was born in Boston and spent his early life in Altadena, CA, before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Majoring in Theater, he graduated from Harvard College in 2010. He founded New Haven’s Young Mechanics Theatre Ensemble, dedicated to bringing politically relevant theatre to a stratified city, and directed productions by Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee, and Clifford Odets alongside new work by local playwrights. With Luisa Muhr, he founded FENGARI, a New York-based Performing Arts company. He staged the world-premiere of COCKPIT (formerly The Specials) by Steve Bellwood, acted at Long Wharf, and directed Wedding of the Waters and Albright at Buffalo’s Albright-Knox. He guest-lectured for four years at Barnard College and worked as a theatre instructor at the University of Michigan, Amherst, Harvard, and Elm Shakespeare. Michigan Quarterly Review posthumously published his story “Team Wristband” in 2019.