17-year-old Wichita actor makes debut as director, producer

At the ripe old age of 17, Leo Larson is becoming a multihyphenate.

Already proving his stuff as an actor with roles at Wichita Community Theatre, Signature Theatre, Guild Hall Players and Roxy’s Downtown, the senior at Wichita Northwest is starting his own theater company and producing and directing his first full-length play this weekend.

Kansas Lion Productions makes its debut this weekend with David Mamet’s “American Buffalo.”

“I have always wanted to direct, and I looked around at different places in town that would let me direct,” Larson said. “There weren’t many places willing to give me a chance.”

But Kansas Lion is not just a playground for Larson to direct what he wants. He wants the plays the company does, starting with “American Buffalo,” to showcase edgier, sometimes controversial playwrights such as Mamet.

“I picked a show I felt no one else would choose, because it’s not as safe as it can be as far as audience interest,” he said. “It’s a show I love, and I didn’t see anyone else doing it. I figure someone’s got to.”

In “American Buffalo,” a pawn-shop owner (played by Joe Parrish) discovers his store has sold a rare coin for next to nothing when it’s actually worth a small fortune. He enlists his teenage employee (Hunter Bartholomew) and an old pal (Quinn Warren) to stage a heist at the store that has the coin.

Larson also wants the company to live on after he leaves town, as an “umbrella for directors around Wichita to pitch their ideas for shows so they’re able to have a little more creative freedom.”

While he hasn’t made a decision on college yet, he has his eye on DePaul University in Chicago and its playwriting and directing programs.

“I’d like to do a little bit of everything,” he said. “I’d like to go and learn to write, and hopefully direct what I write, maybe transition to film later.”

His only directing experience before “American Buffalo” was at Newman University’s “Play in a Day” competition, where he and his cast won the competition. Kansas Lion’s first play will be staged at Newman’s Jabara Black Box Theatre this weekend.

“It’s going really well and I’m really proud,” he said of the play. “It’s something I want to pursue ahead of acting in my career. I love having my vision come to life and working with these people.”

The three-man cast said it doesn’t matter to them that their director is a teenager.

“Not all 17-year-olds are created equal,” said Warren, who has been in several shows with Larson. “I don’t think there’s another 17-year-old I would listen to.”

Parrish was impressed with Larson’s acting work since seeing him in WCT’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” where Larson played an autistic teenager investigating the death of a neighbor’s canine. “I thought he was absolutely brilliant,” Parrish said of Larson, who won a Mary Jane Teall Award with his performance.

Larson was asked by Parrish to assistant direct “Blood Brothers” for him at WCT as well.

“I know him really well and respect him,” Parrish said. “It’s no issue that he’s a kid and I’m an old man.”

“American Buffalo” by Kansas Lions Productions

When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 12-14; 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15

Where: Jabara Black Box Theatre, Newman University

Tickets: $20, $1 for students, from Eventbrite.com