Leon Scioscia (Martin ’76) caught the bug at an early age to write plays and make a living in the theater world. That dream evolved from creating art to supporting the artistic product on the stage. His career pivot brings this one-time aspiring playwright to the final stop in his decades-long career, seeing a new state-of-the-art Tennessee Performing Arts Center become part of the Nashville skyline. His upbringing and time at UT Martin prepared him for a career that begs a curtain call.
His Early Years
Born in Boston, Scioscia’s father worked in the textile industry and eventually moved the family to the South, where they lived in several states. Just as he completed high school in Georgia, his father agreed to manage the large Kellwood clothing plant in Rutherford, a move that coincided with Scioscia’s selecting a college to attend. A tour of the nearby UT Martin campus swayed his decision, and instead of moving back to the Northeast, he found his college home in West Tennessee. He started at UTM in 1972, a choice that, he says, “was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.”
Among his early college experiences, Scioscia attended his first Vanguard Theatre performance, Long Day’s Journey into Night. Bob Todd, longtime UT Martin speech teacher, played the father in the production directed by well-known Vanguard Theatre director and playwright Bill Snyder. Seeing the play inspired Scioscia to try out for the next fall production, and he was selected by Snyder for a minor part in Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull.
Over the course of his undergraduate work, he took several playwriting courses.
“I fell in love with looking at a blank piece of paper and relished the challenge of filling up the page with meaningful words, thoughts and emotions in order to tell a story,” he says.
Scioscia remained in Martin following his graduation and taught English as a second language for a year while working with Snyder at Vanguard Theatre. His next goal was to study playwriting in graduate school, and he picked the University of Iowa because of its connection to legendary playwright Tennessee Williams.
Two years into the program, Scioscia was writing plays and seeing them produced, but he recalled thinking to himself, “You know, I’m not going to be the next great Eugene O’Neill.” He switched from the Master of Fine Arts to the Master of Arts program, completed his degree in dramatic arts and moved to New York City to pursue a different dream.
Behind the Scenes
Scioscia’s new focus didn’t immediately translate into the opportunities he wanted. He supported himself initially by working in a restaurant and later securing his real estate license to rent and sell condominiums in Manhattan. His first paying theater job finally came as box office manager with the off-Broadway Phoenix Theatre. From there, each job move taught him something different about the “business of putting that artistic product up on a stage and supporting it.”
Notable among his career stops are the legendary Arena Stage, the Herberger Theatre Center and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where he began work in 1994 and was challenged for the next 12 years in ways he couldn’t have imagined in his early days as an aspiring playwright. His work included IT director, where he used his self-taught IT skills; special assistant to the center’s president; and director of the memorial to the late president.
During his days as a UT Martin student, Leon Scioscia acted in plays at the Vanguard Theatre in Martin, and he worked with director and playwright Bill Snyder after graduation.
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Following his long run at the Kennedy Center, Scioscia spent seven years at the Library of Congress working as a special assistant to the law librarian, a position appointed by Congress. The change allowed him to exit the 24/7/365 treadmill of the Kennedy Center to spend valuable time raising his son, Alexander, now grown and living in Alexandria, Virginia. Subsequent positions included work for the Trust at the National Mall, the Music Center at Strathmore, followed by serving as president and CEO of the Workhouse Arts Center in Fairfax County, Virginia, during the pandemic.
The road then led Scioscia back to Tennessee.
Coming Full Circle
Scioscia joined the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s (TPAC) senior leadership team in 2023 as vice president of operations. Besides managing TPAC’s largest department that produces shows at four venues, he’s involved in the work to build a new TPAC at a yet-to-be-determined downtown Nashville location. The state has committed $500 million to the project, and TPAC has embarked on a capital campaign of raising $100 million to unlock the state grant and build the new performance home.
Upcoming 2025-26 Broadway shows, including Back to the Future: The Musical and Hamilton, offer a snapshot of the high-end productions that Scioscia and his operations team bring to TPAC audiences. The star-drawing power of the venue is evident in the vintage framed photos of past TPAC performers displayed along the back wall of the 2,472-seat Andrew Jackson Hall.
Scioscia and his team bring world-class shows to life using the existing resources, but some aspects of the old TPAC won’t be missed, such as a loading dock ramp built at a 45-degree angle, which requires a wrecker to level truck trailers so that offloading can happen easily.
No Regrets
Scioscia has never doubted his decision to work behind the scenes in the theater world. His creative side still keeps a script idea in his back pocket, and he has published a children’s book called The Snow Fort, but his focus is on supporting the artistic product. He credits Snyder and other mentors for encouraging him and giving him the skillset to succeed in a challenging business.
“Trying to make it in the performing arts in New York City is tough,” he says. “Trying to be a visual artist and truly make a living from your artistic creations is tough. … But if you want to be involved in some aspect of the arts, you can have a successful career by working to support the artistic product in any of the creative mediums.”
