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Leone retires after 29 years

By Ashley Larabee and Tabitha Hamann
IV Leader Staff 
COMMENTARY, May 5, 2005

    There are few things in our time at IVCC that we regret. There have been even fewer theatre majors that pass through the doors of the stage without hearing a few Giacomo Leone stories. 
    Some may seem altogether impossible, like the fact that Dean Leone began directing shows here at IVCC while teaching at St. Bede. The very next year he was placed on the full time staff as a speech instructor, director of theatre, and coach to the speech team. Under Leone’s leadership the speech team transitioned to the forensics team. The team gained national recognition with a 15th place ranking at the national competition. The amazing truth is that often at competitions Leone was judging other events while his students were giving gold worthy performances.
    Many of Leone’s former students have taken the skills he taught and put them to use in their life. This is a great source of pride for Leone, who feels that his greatest accomplishment is the affect he has had on the people. 
Former students gathered a few weeks ago to through Dean Leone a retirement party and show their gratitude for the times that he could have been spending with his family, or focusing on self endeavors, but instead spent with students.
    “The hardest thing about acting is not acting,” the phrase often appears in a great Leone tale. There are, if you are lucky, maybe five lines that as an actor you feel you are truly living. Giacomo creates an environment that allows students to put in the time and effort that allows an actor to feel emotions and then drive them successfully.     Giacomo wanted to be famous, not in the movie star glam way, but in the way that he wanted people to think that was more than capable of handling the stage.
    It was in his second year of teaching that he realized, that he didn’t: “…care about what people think—I wanted to be the best.”
    Leone feels that the support of the administration was a key to the success of the IV stage, and gave him opportunities to work on productions that might have been more difficult to mount in other places. 
    After Leone’s retirement, he would like to continue to see the IVCC theatre provide performances of an experimental nature that create an environment for learning and skill building. 
    For those who have met Leone it is easy to understand that our personal regret is that we have not had the privilege to gain such powerful experiences from his direction. However, Giacomo’s contributions to the IV theatre program will continue through the Giacamo Leone theatre scholarship. 
    Leone is not just inspirational to theatre students but to all students who want to gain the best experiences that will last them for a lifetime.