About the Play:

Anatomy of Gray is a full-length drama by Jim Leonard, Jr. A small-town Indiana girl's grief over her father's death leads her to pray for a "healer" to drift into town. When a man literally blows into town in a hot air balloon, she thinks her prayer is answered. This extraordinary tale gently leads audiences through the murky waters of love, loss, and salvation. Especially recommended for school and contest use.

Anatomy of Gray tells the touching and often funny story of June Muldoon, a 15-year-old girl growing up in Depression-era Indiana. When June's father dies, she prays for a healer to come to the small town of Gray, so that no one will ever suffer again; the next thing she knows, there's a tornado, and a man in a balloon blows into town claiming to be a doctor. At first, the new doctor cures anything and everything, but soon the town's preacher takes ill with a mysterious plague. And then the plague begins to spread. Anatomy of Gray deals with death, loss, love, and healing in a unique coming-of-age story.

Anatomy of Gray was originally staged under the title Gray's Anatomy in 1994 at Circle Repertory Theatre in New York, and was subsequently staged in Arizona, in San Francisco, and at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle. This revised version of the play has enjoyed widespread acceptance among leading regional theatres, and has become a popular choice for high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 5 female, 4 male

What people say:

"Anatomy of Gray is about a town, and individuals, overcoming ignorance and learning to live in love instead of fear. It may be set more than 100 years ago, but there’s plenty we can learn from it today." — Wilmington Star News

"Jim Leonard Jr.'s Anatomy of Gray – is a delightfully delicate allegoric tale, touched with some humor, of the passage of innocence. Set in a small rural community in the 1800s, Leonard's script establishes a subtle balancing act between religion and science, faith and medicine." — Lincoln Journal Star

About the Playwright:

Jim Leonard is an American playwright, television writer and producer. He started his career in theatre: He attended Hanover College in Indiana where he wrote his first two plays And They Dance Real Slow in Jackson and The Diviners (which has become a go-to script for community theatre companies). After graduation, he co-founded the still-flourishing Bloomington Playwrights Project. He spent 20 years at New York's prestigious Circle Repertory Company (where he premiered almost all of his plays) until he began his successful career in film and television (Ray Donovan, Major Crimes, Dexter). He now splits his time between Indiana and Los Angeles.