The award-winning Island City Stage launches its 15th anniversary season in outrageous celebratory style! Get set for a raucous ride paying homage to everyone’s favorite drama queen, Joan Crawford, in the theater company’s revival of the hit world premiere of Michael Leeds’ Who Killed Joan Crawford? The show runs October 1 – 25 with tickets on sale now.
On a dark, stormy night in 1993, five men arrive at a cabin for a soap star's surprise birthday party. Each guest has been asked to dress as the birthday boy’s favorite actress, Joan Crawford, in one of her signature roles… and the results aren't pretty! As they wait for the star, the five "Joans" begin drinking and dishing. Dark secrets emerge and soon there’s one Joan less ... and then another... leaving the remaining Joans — and the audience — asking, “Who Killed Joan Crawford?!”
The show is both written and directed by Michael Leeds. Leeds began his career performing on Broadway under the direction of such luminaries as Gower Champion, Ron Field, and Martin Scorsese before moving into directing, choreographing and writing. As a writer/director, Leeds is perhaps best known for writing and directing Swinging On A Star on Broadway, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. His plays also include The First Step, Impressions, The Gift, Starmaker, and his adaptation of Cole Porter’s Red, Hot And Blue which he directed at both Goodspeed Opera and PaperMill Playhouse as well as co-writing book, music and lyrics for Mating Habits of the Urban Mammal which has had productions throughout the country. For film, Leeds’ history with director Linda Yellen began when he choreographed End of Summer starring Jacqueline Bisset and Peter Weller. Since then he co-wrote with Yellen, The Simian Line starring William Hurt, Lynn Redgrave and Tyne Daly, The Last Film Festival starring Dennis Hopper and Jacqueline Bisset, Showtime’s Fluidity starring Nico Tortorella, and Chantilly Bridge, starring Lindsay Crouse, Jill Eikenberry, Ally Sheedy, Talia Shire, Patricia Richardson, Helen Slater and JoBeth Williams (Paramount+). His latest film, an adaptation of Stewart Lewis’s YA book, One Stupid Thing, starring Corey Fogelmanis (Girl Meets World), Skye Katz (Surviving Summer) and Jack White was awarded Best Picture at the Boston International Film Festival, Best Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and is currently a semi-finalist in the London International Filmmakers Festival. As a director, aside from his Broadway credits, Leeds directed and choreographed the production of Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah - The Songs of Allan Sherman for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Director/Best Choreographer. Other Off Broadway credits include Showing Off, the York Theatre’s revivals of 70, Girls, 70 and Lerner & Lane’s Carmelina which he adapted with the original book writer Joe Stein. His production of the European premiere of Arthur Miller’s Playing For Time won the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival First Award. He also directed and choreographed A Little Night Music for the Houston Grand Opera and Marc Blitzstein’s Regina for Florida Grand Opera. In South Florida, he’s directed at GableStage, Palm Beach DramaWorks, Broward Stage Door Theatre and Island City Stage where he is associate artistic director. His many productions there have earned him South Florida’s highest honors: the Carbonell, Remy and Silver Palm Awards.
Island City Stage’s 2026 revival production of Who Killed Joan Crawford? stars Michael Coppola (Harvey Goldberg), Luke Di Liddo (David Hoch), Christopher Dreeson (Stewart Fry), Jay Eisler (Trick Roberts), Bruce Linser (Gene Harlowe) and Stephen Trovillion (Leo Lawrence).
Who Killed Joan Crawford? Co-producers are Mark Tews & Raymond Griffis, Jeffrey Danielson and Michael Mullins & Terry Gaw. Lights and Sound Sponsor is Scott Bennett and Set Sponsor is Glenn Goldberg. Costume Sponsors are The Doug Pew & Don Croxton LGBT Trust at Our Fund. Additional funding is provided by the following: The Our Fund Foundation, The Schubert Foundation Inc., the SHS Foundation, the Warten Foundation, and OutClique.
Individual show tickets start at $50. A Mimosa Sunday performance sponsored by Neil Blackwell will take place on October 11. A Women’s Night at the Theater with a pre-show reception will take place on October 23. The show runs for 90 minutes with no intermission.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.islandcitystage.org, call (954) 928-9800 or email [email protected]. Follow Island City Stage on Facebook at facebook.com/IslandCityStage and on Instagram at @islandcitystage.
