Leah Jereb shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Leah, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Not to be dramatic, but the first 90 minutes of my day are the most important of my entire day. It’s the one time I feel total peace, and I also have come up with most of my best ideas first thing in the morning.
After I wake up, I do my little bathroom routine and freshen up, put on my work-at-home comfy clothes, and make coffee. I do what I consider “morning pages” a la The Artist’s Way (which I formally did about 6 years ago), but nowadays I just aim to get at least one page out. Most times, it’s literally just me talking about what I have to do that day, but on lucky days, I get a bolt of inspiration for a new idea—whether that’s a character, a creative solution I’ve been searching for, etc. If I have time, I will start fleshing out that idea while my mind is clear and energized. Sometimes if I don’t flesh it out right away, it will slip away. I’ve come up with a lot of best ideas for this timeframe, and I never underestimate what it could deliver (yet it’s important to go in with zero expectations).
Important to note: I DO NOT TOUCH MY PHONE UNTIL I’VE WRITTEN ONE PAGE! That’s not to sound all high and mighty, but literally from the second I start checking notifications, my brain is off to the races in a different direction (normally not a creative one). Up until a couple months ago, I would turn my phone on airplane mode at night through the time I was done writing the next morning, but two of my friends told me that was dangerous and peer pressured me to just use Do Not Disturb. Forgive me for being an optimist with boundaries.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi! I’m Leah Jereb, and I’m a writer and character comedian based in LA. This October, I’m debuting my one woman show: VISIONARY.
VISIONARY started 5 years ago with the thought: what would happen if a bunch of characters who think they are God’s gift to earth were in a show together?
Rousing, flirtatiously satirical, and based on a semi-true story, VISIONARY explores what it means when the brightest minds aren’t necessarily the best. It centers around Linda Labia, a woman who just quit her job and decides to watch a documentary about visionaries. While I play Linda, I also weave in an out as all the characters (about 10) in the documentary, so it’s sort of a show within a show. Linda’s life nearly falls apart, but the documentary goes on. No spoilers.
This is by far the biggest creative project I’ve ever accomplished, and I’m so excited to show it to audiences soon! I hope they enjoy my characters, musical bits I managed to cram in, and let’s say…satire. It’s also technically a play. I guarantee you haven’t seen anything like it before (unless you built a functioning time machine, which would make you a visionary.)
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My incredible advisor for this show, Phyllis Katz, has been someone who, since we met, has made me feel like there’s *something* to what I’m doing. I’m sure that is nearly everybody’s experience who works with her, because she is just an incredible coach and writer herself, but I’m grateful.
I met Phyllis during my time taking classes at The Groundlings (she is a founding member!), and I knew that when I first was developing this show I had to reach out to her.
She has an incredible way of holding up a flashlight when you have no idea where you are in the creative process. I think it was probably over a year ago now that I was stumped on a major structural component of this show, and she offered to hop on the phone with me to talk it through. At times, developing VISIONARY has felt like driving blindfolded, but she has kept me on the road of what is a rather uncharted concept.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
If I could talk to little Leah, I would say….don’t go to college in DC for international relations – ha! When I was at the end of my high school career, I deep down really wanted to study screenwriting or acting, but being from the Midwest, I had internalized “get a real job” mentality. Boring.
It’s funny how you can be in three choirs, drama club president, acting, doing costuming, on the dance team, and in an advanced art class and think…nah I’m gonna stop all of that and get a degree completely unrelated to these things.
TLDR to the kids: don’t give up your art!
My career since high school has routed me through the marketing and branding world which I have enjoyed, but I’m glad I’ve found my way back to theater, comedy, and what I deep down feel alive doing. In a way my skillsets can now intertwine in a fun way, like doing the marketing / creative for my show!
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Whose ideas do you rely on most that aren’t your own?
When I was writing this show, the biggest challenge was figuring out the plot for Linda, the central character in my show. One piece of writing advice that I read was from, Billy Wilder (director and writer of one of my favorite movies ‘Some Like It Hot’).
He said something to the likes of “in the first act of a story, you put your character up in a tree, the second act you set the tree on fire, and then in the third you get him down.”
I used that as a bit of a guiding principle in developing this script, and I like to think Linda definitely goes up in a tree, I light it on fire, and then I get Linda down. Well, she somehow gets herself down by the grace of god.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. How do you know when you’re out of your depth?
Nothing makes me feel less creative than rushing. This has been said a million times, but the current churn of content online just makes my head spin. I’m glad I had time to really sit with this story, because a lot of creative problems got solved by them popping into my head when I least expected them to. We often feel like we have to rush, but I’m glad I took the time for this show to marinate because I think audiences will be able to…taste the difference.
If you’re hiring me to write something though, don’t worry, I’ll turn it in a week early.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://visionarytheshow.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ljsayshey
- Other: VISIONARY will debut with two performances this October in Los Angeles:
– Thursday October 23 at 8pm at LA Connection Comedy Theater in Burbank
– Sunday October 26 at 7:3pm at The Lyric Hyperion in SilverlakeTickets and more info about the show are available at visionarytheshow.com.
Image Credits
Photos by Linnea Bullion
