Biography (or click here to see a timeline) Leonard Pitt was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1941. After high school he attended The Art Center School in Los Angeles and at age twenty got a lucrative job in an advertising agency as a graphic designer. Staring into a creative dead end he quit his job and traveled to Europe. He landed in Paris in 1963 and took a few mime classes with Etienne Decroux. After a few days he was hooked. He spent four years with Decroux and seven years in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1970 and settled in Berkeley, California where he opened a school of physical theatre, attracting students from around the world. Leonard's one-man shows have received critical acclaim. He has performed and taught at theatres and festivals throughout the United States, in Europe, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. In 1973 he attended a concert of Balinese dance and music. Turning to his friend before the curtain went up, he whispered, "If this is boring, let's leave in the middle." Stunned by what he saw he closed his school and traveled to Bali to study mask theatre. While there he performed with the Balinese in their village and temple festivals. He returned to Bali in 1978 to study mask carving. In 1986 he co-founded Life On The Water, a contemporary theatre in San Francisco presenting new work. In 1991, Leonard created Eco-Rap, an environmental education program combining ecology and rap music as a way to educate inner city youth about urgent social issues. Leonard has written three books on Paris. Two walking guides: Walks Through Lost Paris, 2002 in French, 2006 in English, Paris, A Journey Through Time, 2008 in French, 2009 in English, and Paris Postcards - The Golden Age, 2010. His fourth book, A Small Moment of Great Illumination, about the 17th century Anglo-Irish healer Valentine Greatrakes, was published in 2006. He is currently working on a new one-man show with theatre director Arne Zaslove. In 2009 he and James Donlon opened The Flying Actor Studio in San Francisco offering a one year program in the art of physical theatre. Leonard lives in Berkeley, California. the artist as a young man (Leonard goofing off for the family photo taken at his brother's Bar Mitzvah) the young man as an artist (Leonard in his Paris garret, circa 1967, with one of his first sculptures)