BWW Review: AMERICAN STREET KID by Writer/Director Michael Leoni
by Shari Barrett Aug. 25, 2020
Over the past several years, I have had the privilege to attend many performances of two insightful plays written and directed by Michael Leoni who went on to create the production company An 11:11 Experience. In speaking with him after seeing his plays Elevator and Famous, he shared his goal with me about how he had been searching to find the right distributor for his documentary film "American Street Kid" for quite some time. I knew it would be an amazing film, and am happy to share the news it is now streaming online.
In my research on teen homelessness in America for this article, I learned that according to the National Center on Family Homelessness, a staggering 2.5 million children are now homeless each year in America. This historic high represents one in every 30 children in the United States. Did you know 1.8 million homeless kids are living on the streets of America, and every day 13 will die? And within 48 hours of being on the street, 2 out of 3 kids will turn to prostitution in order to survive?
These facts are brought into focus via first-hand interviews during Michael Leoni's "American Street Kid" film documentary, which began when he arrived in Los Angeles and set out to do a Public Service Announcement (PSA) about homeless youth on the streets of Hollywood. In his eye-opening film, Leoni leads us into a world that most people don't know exists - a world where in order to survive, kids are forced to sell drugs, beg for money or sell their bodies. They live under bridges, in abandoned houses or anywhere else they can hide to remain safe from the dangers they face daily on the streets.
We are taken along with him during his journey with homeless teens in Los Angeles as they learn to trust him with his camera and willingly expose the truth and illuminate the hardcore reality of this American crisis which has no apparent easy or available solutions to get kids off the streets. The teens interviewed have traveled from across the country to converge in Los Angeles with the dream of finding something better, most escaping from abusive family situations at home or timing out of the foster care system at 18 and dropped off on the streets to find their own way, often with no support system except other homeless street kids.
Their powerful stories are heartbreaking while their unrelenting hope and determination to create a better life shines through when drugs don't get in the way. In this true tale of trust, love, friendship, and the triumph of the human spirit, Leoni shines a beam of light into these kids' lives, showing them that someone cares what happens to them and will do what he can to secure their safety.
His answers provide insight into what it would take to really help kids turn their lives around and get off the streets: Transformational Living to assist these lost kids getting off the streets and finding a support system to assist them in staying clean, going to school or finding a job, and living in a safe place. But the process must begin with each finding someone who cares about them before they can really care about themselves, often for the first time in their lives.
These lonely and lost throw-away kids whose parents literally tossed them out onto the streets or into foster care with then threw them on the streets at age 18, with mountains to climb before attaining a better life than just looking for a way to survive on the streets day-to-day, will tear at your heartstrings with their brutal honesty.
