Stefanie DeLeo (born April 22, 1982) is an American author and playwright known primarily for her published play on autism, ''Worth a Thousand Words'' published in 2010 throug
JAC NEED Publishers
In September 2017, she was published in the newes
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and the Unexplainable
edition. She is also the author o
Cry My Safari
ref name="amazon.com"> and the comedic pla
Answer the Question, Iris
and a contributing author to an SAT Prep book. Additionally, she has been a guest blogger o
Melibee Global
reflecting on her time abroad. Stefanie was also a returned

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

Volunteer having lived and worked in South African town of

Kuruman Kuruman is a small town with just over 53,000 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is known for its scenic beauty and the Eye of Kuruman, a geological feature that brings water from deep underground. The abundance of water ...

for two and a half years, where she is listed as a notable resident.

Early life

Stefanie was born in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

at the Naval Medical Center. Because her father was in the Navy, she moved around a lot, living in four states by age 3. Her parents were both born and raised in New York City, which is where she spent the majority of her life. As a young girl, Stefanie found inspiration from

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

and in 1993 after watching the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

sketch comedy show, Roundhouse, she became addicted to the stage. Stefanie's childhood icon,

Jennifer Cihi Jennifer Cihi (born April 2, 1966) is an American singer/actress who performed on Broadway, television, commercial jingles and provided several songs for animated series and films. She is best known for being the original English dub singer of ...

who starred in Roundhouse, was who Stefanie credits as the reason she wanted to one day become an actress and author. In a 1994 fan letter (written when DeLeo was just 11 years old) she promised to dedicate her first book to

Jennifer Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to: People *Jennifer (given name) * Jenifer (singer), French pop singer * Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer * Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer * Daniel Jenifer Film and tele ...

, which she did in fact do. DeLeo graduated fro
Ronkonkoma Junior High School
in 1997 (now Ronkonkoma Middle School) and

Connetquot High School Connetquot High School (CHS) is a Public school (government funded), public High school (North America), high school serving students from the communities of Bohemia, New York, Bohemia, Oakdale, New York, Oakdale and Ronkonkoma, New York, Ronkonkom ...

in 2000. A large mural of Long Island that DeLeo painted is still displayed in the school's lobby. DeLeo attended a local church in

Central Islip Central Islip is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 34,450 at the 2010 census. History and overview Prior to the arrival of European settlers, the S ...

, which gave her many performance opportunities.

Education and Career

Stefanie attended undergrad at

Eastern Nazarene College The Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) is a private, Christian college in Quincy, Massachusetts. Established as a holiness college in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1900, the college moved to Rhode Island for several years. With its expansion to a four-y ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and Minoring in History. She starred in several productions including Lisa Loomer's ''Bocon'' and Thornton Wilder's ''

The Skin of Our Teeth ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 194 ...

.'' Additionally, DeLeo studied playwriting and directing, and in 2004 she directed the main stage production of ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...

'' which won the

Moss Hart Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director. Early years Hart was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker. He had a younger brother ...

Award in 2004 for best play of the 2003-2004 theatre season. In 2005, DeLeo's first play ''Worth a Thousand Words'' was produced in

Port Jefferson Port Jefferson (informally known as "Port Jeff") is an incorporated village in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. Officially known as the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, the population ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

at Theatre Three. That same play was later published. In 2005 she moved to New York City to pursue a master's degree in Educational Theatre at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. DeLeo earned her Master's in 2006. Her second play, ''Jezebel's Apple'' was performed at the

Bowery Ballroom The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live-music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in the neighborhood of Bowery in Manhattan. The Bowery Ballroom holds something of a cult status among musicians as well as audiences. ''Rolling Stone'' magazi ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In 2006, Stefanie wrote her novel, ''Cry My Safari''. In 2007, DeLeo joined the

and relocated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She was stationed in the small, remote farming town of

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

. While there, DeLeo founded an interracial theatre group with a township school that performed original pieces all over the

. She taught primary school and learned to speak

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

as well as basic greetings in

seTswana Tswana, also known by its native name , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone ...

. After the Peace Corps, DeLeo settled in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

, where she taught middle school history and drama. While in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, DeLeo appeared in several productions at Curtain Call, Westport Theatre and her short poem, ''The Pied Piper'' was performed as part of Bridgeport Theatre Company's ''After Bedtime Stories.'' Her poem was a tongue-in-cheek twist on the classic poem, where it served as an allegory to the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. In 2012, her play, ''Answer the Question, Iris'' receives its first of many productions throughout the US. In 2014, DeLeo relocated to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. While in Nashville, she was cast in the show Alien at ''The Arts at Center Street'' DeLeo began teaching high school English, where she is teaching students about her own passion of writing and performing. DeLeo was also an invited author to appear a
Malta Comics Expo
one of Europe's biggest Comic Cons in October 2014 where friend,

, also appeared as a guest singer. On January 13 and 14, 2018, Stefanie DeLeo became the 1st accomplished writer invited to be a guest at The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational's TAKII 24 ~The Power Of Love~ held at The Rotunda. DeLeo has since appeared in dozens of anime and comic conventions all over the US, Canada and Europe. In 2017, DeLeo was published in

Chicken Soup for the Soul Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is an American self-help, consumer goods and media company based in Cos Cob, Connecticut. It is known for the ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' book series. The first book, like most subsequent titles in the ...

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and the Unexplainable
- In 2017, she appeared as an airport patron and MIT student in episode 119 of the new

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both po ...

television show. DeLeo has traveled extensively throughout the world and uses these experiences to enhance her writing.

Written Works

''Cry My Safari'' - Cry My Safari is the story of a young girl kidnapped while on holiday in Nairobi with her family. She is raised in rural Kenya, where she finds a new home among a Kenyan tribe. But, after eleven years in the wilderness, she is discovered and brought back to reunite with her family in the United States, where she faces the arduous task of re-assimilating into a life she had forgotten. It's the story of a young girl's journey to finding her true identity in a racially and economically conflicted world spanning two continents. ''Worth a Thousand Words'' - Worth a Thousand Words is the story of a newly widowed mother struggling to connect with her autistic daughter. Shortly after her husband's death, she learns that he has won an art competition. She solicits her daughter's help, since her daughter shared his passion for art. As the play unfolds we discover that her autistic daughter uses art as a means of communication and that is the only way in which her mother can learn to connect with her. At the end of the play, it is discovered that the winning painting belongs to her daughter and not her late husband. ''Answer the Question, Iris'' - In this comedic play, Iris has a very unusual visit with a psychologist.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and the Unexplainable
- Stefanie's story of how she befriended the voice of Sailor Moon, and co-founded a project dedicated to providing support for people affected by mental illness.

References

External links

Stefanie DeLeo Amazon Author Page

Melibee Global Stefanie DeLeo Articles

Answer the Question, Iris - short production

Stefanie DeLeo's Malta Comics Expo Promo Video

Triad Anime Convention

Stefanie DeLeo
convention appearances on fancons.com {{DEFAULTSORT:DeLeo, Stefanie 1982 births Living people American women dramatists and playwrights Eastern Nazarene College alumni Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni People from Portsmouth, Virginia Writers from Virginia People from Ronkonkoma, New York Writers from New York (state) American expatriates in South Africa 21st-century American women