Once Upon This Island
My mom was always big on theater and it rubbed off on me,”” says Steven Leschanka, a West Windsor-Plainsboro High School graduate, Class of 1999. He is a cast member of “”Once on This Island,”” which opens at Villagers Theater in Somerset on Friday, October 29. In high school Leschanka was active in the music and drama departments. Since then he has acted in several plays at Villagers and was instrumental in founding a new theater company, Saint Genesius Players, in the Somerset area.
He and his twin sister, Melissa, moved to Plainsboro with their family when they entered seventh grade at what is now Community Middle School. Leschanka, who has lived in Edison with his father since he was 21, is a mortgage broker for Partners Mortgage in Woodbridge. Melissa now attends Rider University where she is majoring in elementary education and teaches music at a middle school in Metuchen. Their younger brother Matthew, 18, is a freshman at Middlesex County College.
Leschanka’s mother, Tina Lee, is a co-producer of “”Once on This Island.”” “”Her talents are unlimited,”” he says. “”She has done every single job in a theater that is possible.”” In the past, she has directed, choreographed, produced, stage managed, and built sets. A Somerset resident, she for Franklin Township. His father, George Leschanka, is an insurance underwriter in Edison.
His favorite roles include Baby John in “”West Side Story,”” Snoopy in both “”You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”” and “”Snoopy,”” and Willard in “”Footloose.”” In high school he appeared in “”Damn Yankees”” and “”Pippin.”” He played the trombone in the Pirate Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, and the Trombone Ensemble.
Leschanka plays a peasant in “”Once on This Island,”” based on the book, “”My Love, My Love”” by Rosa Guy, a retelling of the fairy tale “”The Little Mermaid.”” Book and lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens and music is by Stephen Flaherty – the same team that created “”Ragtime”” and “”Seussical.”” The play opened April, 1990, in New York and was nominated for eight Tony Awards.
A Caribbean-flavored musical, the setting is in the French Antilles. Written for an all black cast, Villagers Theater has opted to cast by audition – rather than by color or shades of color as suggested on the Music Theater International website, the organization granting rights to run a show. “”There are a lot of references to African Americans and rich white people,”” says Leschanka. The lead role of Ti Moune, played by LaChanze on Broadway, is being played by Samantha Hahn, National American Miss New Jersey Teen 2004-’05.
-Lynn Miller
“”Once on This Island,”” Friday, October 29, through Sunday, November 21, Villagers Theater, 415 DeMott Lane, Somerset. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18. Visit www.villagerstheatre.com or call 732-873-2710.
