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Charlie Leonard purchased the Bookcase in April of 2008, after working as an employee of the store since 1998. In a past life, Charlie was an assistant editor at a computer magazine. He believes he got that job not because he knew anything about computers (he doesn't), but because he could punctuate sentences with some accuracy. However, after about nine months of "cubicle" life (during which the only thing he gained was an appreciation of the comic strip "Dilbert"), Charlie decided to escape to the entertaining halls of academia. He became a middle school teacher. Charlie spent four years teaching English and Vision 21 at Wayzata West Middle School and one year teaching at Hopkins North Junior High School. It was during his teaching career that Charlie accidentally began directing plays -- and discovered the other great passion of his life (besides books, of course). In 2007, Charlie founded Blue Water Theatre Company, a nonprofit youth theatre group whose mission is to build and sustain a theatre community that will provide young actors with opportunities to perform, learn, and experience theatre that is important, meaningful, and life-changing. Blue Water Theatre Company continues to grow, and in its first year alone presented productions of A Grand Night for Singing, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Beauty and the Beast, Spring Awakening, Oliver!, and Carousel. Although extremely passionate about his calling as a teacher, when the opportunity to purchase the Bookcase (and realize a life-long dream) came up in early 2008, Charlie couldn't pass it up. With the help of his grandparents, Charlie became the fourth owner of the store in April of that year. Currently Charlie can be found at the store most days, and rehearsing for Blue Water's latest play most nights. Much to the dismay of his beagle (appropriately named Gatsby), Charlie is rarely at home. Gatsby, however, seems to be just fine hanging out with her grandparents until she gets picked up each evening. Charlie grew up in the Plymouth/Wayzata area, is a 1996 graduate of Wayzata High School, a 2000 graduate of Luther College (B.A. in English), and has completed some graduate work in education from the University of St. Thomas. You can contact Charlie by clicking here to send him an email. |
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