Playwright

Leslie’s plays have been successfully performed in professional and university theatres.

They’ve also been recognized in national contests--Shadow Dance was a national finalist in the Festival of Emerging American Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre, Indianapolis, and Flying Solo was a finalist in The National Ten Minute Play Contest, Actors' Theatre of Louisville. Leslie has taught playwriting at Cal State, Pomona, and is a co-founder of the Sierra Muses Writers’ Workshop and the Sierra Muses Press in Nevada City, CA.

Leslie has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Stanford University, is a member of the professional actors' union, Actors' Equity Association, and is a Professor Emerita in Theatre with the California State University.

Leslie Ann Rivers Writing Resume

Writing Reviews

“Flying Solo, a collection of five short plays about women by Leslie Ann Rivers, launches the new late-night Spotted Owl Stage at Los Angeles’ Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble with, well, a flying start....Rivers addresses the theme of women finding their own place in life with five emotionally rich moods and settings....Rivers’ sense of lyricism and compassion is not lost on any of the actresses, also dubbed by the group as the Wright Sisters. They are right-on.”
Debbi K. Swanson, SANTA MONICA OUTLOOK

“In Shadow Dance Rivers creates an enjoyable comedy placed in an Etruscan tomb in Italy, prefaced with a tastefully done courtship dance....In this particulat tomb, each male character ends up either on the giving or receiving end of a seduction scene with each female....With the aid of smooth staging and some stylish characterizations, getting there is most of the fun....Rivers shows a fine ability to entertain both on paper and on the stage.”
H.S. Wilson, DAILY BULLETIN