WHO KILLED JOAN CRAWFORD? to Open Island City Stage's 15th Season

The award-winning Island City Stage launches its 15th anniversary season with 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?!”

“When we did the original world premiere (which I was in) it was just really a hoot,” said Andy Rogow, artistic director of Island City Stage. “I remember the first time we saw each other in our dresses, and we just burst out laughing. This is a great time to revive the show because we all just need a good, silly, laugh-out-loud show right now!”

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.

“The idea for Who Killed Joan Crawford? started with just the title. I loved the fast-paced wit of writers like James Kirkwood, Christopher Durang, and Paul Rudnick, and I was a big fan of Agatha Christie; I had read all of her books when I was a kid. And finally, I was in “the biz” and had gay friends “of a certain age” like myself, who, at times, I wanted to kill,” said Leeds. “The ending actually changed three times in rehearsal for the original production 10 years ago. I think the one we settled on is really a surprise and not anything the audience will expect!”

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).

Michael Coppola (Harvey Goldberg), making his debut with Island City Stage, has performed in over 300 professional, regional, and community productions. Most recently, Coppola played Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (The Wick Theatre), Bruce Bechdel in Fun Home (Lake Worth Playhouse), and Dr. Monk (and 10 other characters) in Tenderly, the Rosemary Clooney Story (Delray Beach Playhouse). He also recently participated in a staged reading of The Dog Died, The Kids Are Gone, Now What? at Miami New Drama.

Luke Di Liddo (David Hoch) is a Broward County born-and-raised graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New Studio on Broadway, class of 2025. He was most recently seen in the inaugural cast of Back to the Future, The Musical on board Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas.

Christopher Dreeson (Stewart Fry) returns to Island City Stage after performing Ezra Stein in Everything Beautiful Happens at Night directed by fellow alum Bruce Linser and as Horace in The Little Foxes. He made his South Florida professional debut in 2018 in the Carbonell-recommended one-man show Confessions of a Nightingale playing the role of Tennessee Williams, directed by Jeffrey Bruce. Dreeson’s most recent Carbonell nomination was for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John aka Fountainhead) in Water by the Spoonful (New City Players). Last spring, Dreeson won a Del Lago award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor for his role of Jeff in Boca West’s production of Dry Powder at the Delray Beach Playhouse.

Jay Eisler (Trick Rogers) makes his Island City Stage debut in Who Killed Joan Crawford? His previous credits include the acclaimed The Importance of Being Earnestine (New Brighton Rep), A Streetcar Named Desire… to Be Anywhere But Here (Westchester Diner Playhouse), and Cabaret: The Next Morning (Metropolitan Center for Dramatic Arts). Jay is a graduate of the Institute for Advanced Theatrical Studies and a proud member of the Actors’ Guild of the Americas and Greenland.

Bruce Linser (Gene Harlowe) has appeared at Island City Stage as John/James in Love! Valour! Compassion!, Jane/Lord Edgar in The Mystery of Irma Vep, and Philip in The Pride, and he directed last season’s regional premiere of Everything Beautiful Happens At Night. At Plays of Wilton, Linser played Gavin in the world premiere of Family Tree and directed Dan Clancy’s The Timekeepers and 108 Waverly. His upcoming projects include directing a co-production of The Light in the Piazza for Palm Beach Dramaworks and Riverside Theatre followed by the regional premiere of The Shawshank Redemption at Delray Beach Playhouse.

Stephen Trovillion (Leo Lawrence) made his Island City Stage debut as Ben in The Little Foxes. He’s also appeared in Prayer For The French Republic (Gablestage), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Dangerous Days (Miami New Drama), The Cancellation of Lauren Fein and August: Osage County (Palm Beach Dramaworks), American Rhapsody (Zoetic Stage - Carbonell nomination), Now and Then (Actors Playhouse), The Clearing (Florida Stage) and 16 seasons of City Theater’s Summer Shorts (two Carbonell nominations). On Broadway, he appeared in The Young Man from Atlanta and in Chicago, he was nominated for the Best Actor Joseph Jefferson Award for Eastern Standard. He was the head of the BFA Acting Program at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA.

Island City Stage’s 15th anniversary season promises a captivating and eclectic collection of works, imaginative productions and extraordinary shared experiences. Upcoming shows in 2026-27 are: Grey Gardens (The Musical) with Music by Scott Frankel | Lyrics by Michael Korie | Book by Doug Wright from January 14 - February 14, 2027; Paper Cut by Andrew Rosendorf from March 11 – April 4, 2027; Messy White Gays written by Drew Droege from May 20 - June 13, 2027; and The Lion in Winter by James Goldman from July 8 - August 1, 2027.

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.