Jeffrey Hartgraves, the prolific, gifted and San Francisco theatre artist -- and Leon's dear friend and frequent collaborator -- passed away early Sept. 25, following a three-year battle against bone cancer. He was 47.
Leon just produced and hosted the benefit The Butterfly Effect, a benefit for the Jeffrey Hartgraves' Recovery Fund, in April 2008, featuring many of Jeffrey's theatrical cohorts, at Theatre Rhinoceros. The benefit raised more then $10,000.
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Hartgraves and Acord had worked together many times, most recently in the 2004 Theatre Rhinos hit Worse than Chocolate, in which Hartgraves acted and directed. They shared the stage in Ronnie Larson's 2001 hit A Few Gay Men; they first began their successful collaboration in 1997, when Hartgraves' directed Leon's one-man show Last Sunday in June in the SF Fringe Festival, then in a successful Theatre Rhinos run in 1998.
By far, their most successful collaboration was the 2002 comedy smash Carved in Stone. They co-produced Jeffrey's script at Eureka Theatre, which was directed by John Fisher. Hartgraves also played Tennessee Williams to Leon's Quentin Crisp.
Hartgraves was scheduled to direct an Los Angeles production of Carved in Stone in 2009 -- with a staged reading planned for Sun. Nov 9. The show will go on while co-producers look for a new director.
Acord says he was devastated by the news. "Its unbelievable to me that I've lost one of my best friends, and the most brillliant person I've ever known. And the thought of continuing with our plans for our show seemed inconceivable at first. But the cast and crew all agreed the best way to honor his memory is to continue with the show as planned."
A memorial for Jeffrey is tentative scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 2 at Theatre Rhinoceros at 2pm.
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