Leslie McCurdy

About the Artist

Recipient of the 2014 Elizabeth Havelock Grant from the Windsor Endowment of the Arts, and the 2014 and 2000 Mayor’s Awards for “Artist of the Year” and “Outstanding Performing Artist” of Windsor Ontario respectively, Leslie McCurdy, has performed internationally as an Actor, Dancer/(Choreographer), and Singer. Also a teacher, with an Honors B.F.A. in dance with teaching certification from the University of Michigan, Leslie served as choreographic and teaching assistant to Judith Jamison of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre during several of her Detroit Residencies, and was slated to go to New York to apprentice with the Ailey Company when she literally tripped, fractured her hip, and fell into acting. She has numerous stage, film and TV credits but is most “famous” for the one-woman plays that she wrote and has performed for over 20 years. The Spirit of Harriet Tubman, her first play, was a finalist for a Canadian Chalmers Award for Best New Play for Young Audiences. Her second play, Things My Fore-Sisters Saw, was filmed for TV and was premiered on the Bravo Network in Canada in February 2006. She is lauded for the “brilliance” of her works and the message of social consciousness that is instilled through them. A documentary film about Leslie’s work as an activist performing artist entitled, “The Leslie McCurdy Story: On the Money”, currently streams on the CBC GEM network under the “Absolutely Canadian” program.