From ISL alumna to acclaimed playwright

ISL alumna of Class of 2014, Anna Leader, has been making waves in the world of theatre with her powerful storytelling and thought-provoking themes. Her latest play, Stolen Ground, recently premiered at Luxembourg’s Théâtre des Capucins, exploring profound questions of identity and how the echoes of the past shape our present and future. What’s particularly remarkable is that the play was commissioned by the City of Luxembourg’s theatres based on a one-page submission by Anna. She worked closely with director Richard Twyman to bring her vision to life, drawing inspiration from her own family history and her experiences as an English teacher in New York.

In this interview, Anna shares her journey from ISL student to an accomplished playwright, offering insights into the inspirations behind her work, her creative process, and the experiences that shaped her along the way. She reflects on how her education and family history intersect with her plays and leaves us with valuable advice for young creatives.

Join us as we reconnect with Anna and explore the stories she’s bringing to life on stage.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hello! I attended ISL from second grade until I graduated in 2014. My mother was a teacher there for many years. After studying Comparative Literature at Princeton University, I became a teacher, too. I taught French and English at a boarding school, and then I moved to New York City, where I have now taught high school English for almost four years. In addition to completing a master’s degree online over the last couple of years, I have also done some literary translation work and, most recently, I wrote a play that was produced at the Théâtre des Capucins in Luxembourg in October 2024.

Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind your play Stolen Ground? The play reflects on how the past reverberates into the present. How did your investigation into your family’s history shape this narrative?

Stolen Ground features a friendship between two teenagers who meet at boarding school: one is on a scholarship and worries about not being able to pay the partial tuition she owes, while the other comes from a wealthy family with, as we later learn, a dark colonial history. When the girl invites her friend to her grandfather's overseas estate, that history is brutally revealed, and the girls have to confront the past to see whether their friendship can survive.

As you mention, Stolen Ground is based on real life to some extent, as my great-great-uncle was a British colonial settler in Kenya in the 1950s, and other ancestors were missionaries or soldiers who propped up the British empire all over the globe. I didn’t know very much about that part of our family history until I found a disturbing photo album in a box last year (like the girl does in the play). I wrote this play partly as a way of thinking about my own connection to the past and my responsibility in the present.

The play features an international team, including Dorothée Neff, Anouk Schiltz, and Nigji Sanges. How did their contributions bring your vision to life?

For the first year of the writing process, I was writing independently and meeting over Zoom with my director, Richard Twyman. It wasn’t until the end of August 2024 that everyone gathered in the rehearsal room: the three actors, the director and assistant director, the choreographer, the composer, the videographer, the set and props designer, and the lighting designer. Everyone is so talented within their specific field, of course, but they also gave me a lot of insightful feedback on the script itself: for the first two weeks of rehearsal, we spent seven hours a day going over each scene in detail, asking questions and suggesting revisions.

The creative team did an incredible job of building a whole world through light, sound, and movement – often in ways that I couldn’t have predicted. For instance, I had imagined a very naturalistic living-room setting, but Anouk’s vision was a minimalist white stage with a lighting panel and red earth on the floor. This set brought out some of the key themes in the play, such as bringing the strangeness of the colonial mansion into focus, and putting the emphasis on the stolen land, which was visible at all times. I could go on and on, listing everyone’s contributions but in the interest of space, I will just say a huge thank you to the team for their goodwill, their hard work, and their talent.

Stolen Ground explores difficult and nuanced questions about history and identity. What do you hope audiences, especially young people, take away from this story? 

This is a hard question to answer, because even from the conversations I had with people after the premiere, it was clear that everyone was taking away very different things from the play. I hope that audiences understand that there are no easy answers to the question about what to do with the past, but that it’s important to ask the question anyway. More than anything, I think, I hope that it inspires people – whoever they are, and wherever they come from – to ask questions about their own history and think about what that history means for them now.

This is your second commission by the Théâtres de la Ville. How has your journey as a playwright evolved since your first commission, Deliver Us? 

I have been very lucky to receive so much support from such a well-resourced, open-minded institution: I can’t think of any other country that invests in its arts as much as Luxembourg does. My first play, Deliver Us, was a short piece written during the pandemic, and working closely with director Richard Twyman taught me how to experiment with structure to better serve the characters and themes. Expanding those skills to create a full-length play like Stolen Ground was challenging but immensely rewarding, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow as a playwright.

As an alumna of ISL, did your education or school environment influence your passion for writing and theatre? 

Funnily enough, I wasn’t very involved with theatre at ISL. There weren’t that many ways for me to pursue creative writing at school, so I mostly did my writing on my own. My sister actually founded a school literary magazine – but that was after I left!

Did any experiences or teachers at ISL play a pivotal role in nurturing your creativity? 

I was so thrilled to see my IB English teacher, Mrs. O’Connell, in the audience for Stolen Ground! Her class exposed me to wonderful works of literature from across time and space. After reading a few plays in her class and really enjoying it, I started reading lots and lots of plays for fun – I had always thought about seeing plays rather than reading them, but over the last few years I’ve read close to 200 plays. Although I get to see a lot of shows, too, as I live so close to Broadway, I never get sick of sitting down and reading a new play.

Reflecting on your time at ISL, what stands out as a formative moment or experience during your school years? 

My mom was a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at ISL for almost 20 years, and watching her over the years was my inspiration for eventually becoming a teacher, too. We always arrived early in the mornings, and when my sister and I were young, we would help sort through her classroom library and point out countries on the big map on the wall. All throughout my childhood, mom would share stories over the dinner table – all the silly and strange and adorable things that her students said and did – and I thought to myself, I want to have a job where I laugh every day and I learn something every day. And now that I’m a teacher myself, I do!

Were there any particular subjects, extracurricular activities, or school events that inspired your creative pursuits? 

My IB Art teacher Mrs. Lorton, encouraged her students to research our favourite artists and experiment with different elements of their work in order to create our own style. We kept a sketchbook where we glued in artworks that appealed to us, and we wrote notes about techniques or ideas that we wanted to bring into our own work. I was never a very good artist, but I loved this part of art class, and I learned a lot about paying close attention to how a moving piece of art works, and how to break it down and learn from it. This is how I approach writing, too: I like to take inspiration from a lot of different sources, and then hopefully make something that’s distinctly my own.

If you could share one piece of advice with current ISL students interested in writing or theatre, what would it be? 

I really do believe that you need to be a reader to be a good writer. Go out and see as much as you can, read as much as you can, and take notes on what you like and what you don’t, what works and what doesn’t, what phrases or ideas are still rattling around in your head days later. I kept a little notebook in my pocket for years. I’ve fallen out of that habit – I take notes on my phone now – but I should get back into it now that I’m looking for ideas for my next project!

We thank Anna for sharing her story, insights, and advice with us. We are proud to take our place in the audience and witness our alumna's talent and creativity bring stories to life.