Is the Honeymoon Over: A Staged Reading

About the Playwright

Leasharn has starred in numerous stage productions as well as performed and produced one-woman shows for schools, churches, and civic/professional organizations. Her first professional acting role was playing the lead in Love Conquers All at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, SC. She has performed at Workshop Theatre in the following plays: A Raisin in the Sun and California Suites. She was cast as the lead role as adult Modjeska Simkins in the SCETV Film Series SC Women. Also, she does radio and television voice over work for SC DHEC and other local and national companies.

Over the years, Leasharn has written a book of poetry, over thirty full-length plays (which have been performed across the U.S.) and eight screenplays. In 2016, she wrote, directed, and produced her first film short A Mother’s Plea which deals with wrongful incarceration. The film was available to watch on Preach the Word Worldwide Television Network (PTWWTV Network) pay per view. Currently, the film is available for online viewing on Amazon, ITunes, and BluRay.com. Leasharn has had her plays selected and read at the National Black Theatre Festivals’ Garland Thompson, Sr. Readers Theatre of New Works in 2001, 2003, and 2011. In 2005, she was the only non-academic presenter at the National Black Theatre Festival’s International Colloquium. She presented her abstract “Black Theatre: Sexuality and Stigma Associated with HIV/AIDS” to an international audience. Also, she conducted two-day workshops in 2007 ( “Edu-Theatre: Black Health & Social Issues”) and 2009 (“Beyond the Bars: Theatre in the Penal System”) at the National Black Theatre Festival.

Her signature play, To Touch God’s Hands, has been performed across the U.S. and was the recipient of the 2005 SCDHEC Office of Minority Health Award in the Cutting Edge Category. The same play was funded by the Ford Foundation and Pfizer Pharmaceutical for a seven-city tour across South Carolina. Other theatre companies across the U.S. have performed To Touch God’s Hands. In South Carolina, Leasharn volunteers at several maximum and medium maximum security prison using the Arts as a form of rehabilitation. Leasharn attended and completed the New Scroll Bearers Playwright’s Workshop under the auspices of the New Diaspora Drama Lab at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth & the New African Company.

Nationally, she works in the capacity of script consultant, “working director” and co-Coordinator at the Garland Thompson, Sr. Reader’s Theatre of New Works. Locally, she works as a director, producer, and instructor for Literary and Acting workshops for churches, schools and individuals. Leasharn is the 2018 recipient of the SC Arts Commission Media Arts Screenwriting Fellow. In 2017, she was the recipient of the Artist Venture Initiative Grant from the SC Arts Commission. Also, she is on the SC Arts Commission Artist Roster as a Literary Instructor; an alumni of the Bill Dukes Actors Boot Camp; and completed the SC Arts Commission’s Artist University. She was recognized by Palmetto AIDS Life Support Service (PALSS) for her activism in promoting HIV/AIDS Awareness and the 2010 recipient of the Passing the Torch Award presented by the Renaissance Foundation. In 2007 and 2010, she was considered for the John Simons Guggenheim Fellow in the Drama Category and the 2008 Rockefeller Foundation Artist Fellow in Bellagio, Italy.

About the Author

Debrena Jackson Gandy, a Relationships (R)Evolutionary, is known nationally as a dynamic, speaker, highly effective success coach, trainer of world class teams, Relationships Detox Coach, and Courtship Coach (Modern Courtship), and the national best-selling author of All the Joy You Can Stand and Sacred Pampering Principles. She is the Founder of both The Love Academy (with separate tracks for women and for men), and the Modern Courtship Movement.  Through her Love Academy live and Modern Courtship Classes; mentoring, private and group coaching; and virtual courses, programs and seminars, she has helped thousands of women and men transform their thinking, experience a quantum leap in their understanding of love and love relationships and powerfully prepare them for juicy love relationships and marriages.

She has been featured in publications from Oprah’s O, Ebony, Essence, and Black EnterpriseWoman’s Day and the New York Daily News; has appeared on CNN, “CNN Live”, “Good Day New York”, “Good Morning Texas”, Good Day DC in Washington, D.C, “Afternoon Live, Portland, OR. The Better Show, numerous regional morning TV shows and news segments in major markets, and the Wisdom Channel. She also is one of the hosts of Public Report on TBN’s Station KTBW in Seattle/Tacoma.

A popular guest blogger and radio show guest, she’s been a popular guest on over 55 radio shows, and has been on sites such as Oprah.com; Redbook.com, MSN.com; Essence.com; Ebony.com; JetMag.com; Beliefnet.com; FrugalFeminista.com, HappyWivesClub.com, and SoulofAmerica.com.

She broke the industry mold of only offering a virtual or social-media based book tour when she spearheaded a national book tour fundraising campaign that raised thousands of dollars and took her to 10 major markets in 8 weeks. While on tour, she engaged with over 500 guests/attendees at her live events, had 6 TV appearances, 7 radio interviews, was in 7 on-line and physical news publications.

Based in Seattle, Debrena has three daughters and revels in a fulfilling, “juicy” relationship with her husband, Joe.