leo mock
intimacy choreographer & coordinator,
consent educator & consultant
“…this is love and sex from an abundance mindset … and I hope we see more of this work incorporated into our stages. ”
Alaina Johns, Broad Street Review
about
leo started diy-ing consent-based practices for live performance around 2016. A couple years later, they started their formal training and have since trained with NSIP, IDC, ICOC, TIE and others, while working as an intimacy choreographer, consultant, and coordinator.
leo is a Guiding Faculty member with Theatrical Intimacy Education, where he has created workshop curriculum for other ICs, including Working With Trans and Nonbinary Artists, Staging Intimacy Beyond the Binary, Community Care, Bystander Intervention, Improv and Intimacy, and Training the Trans Singing Voice.
Recent intimacy work has been seen at The Wilma (Twelfth Night), The Lantern (Romeo & Juliet, The Wanderers), Philadelphia Fringe (Othello (vs the Military Industrial Complex), NYU Tisch (Kate Crackernuts), Hogfish (The Breasts of Tiresias), Mad Horse Theatre Company (Witch), Portland Theater Fest (Pony).
As an intimacy coordinator, he has worked on a number of student films at NYU, as well as the 2023 queer erotic thriller, Birder (dir. Nate Dushku).
leo has also presented their work at conferences like ATHE and SETC, and has facilitated workshops and conversations on consent-based performance practices at Pig Iron, Portland Stage Company, University of Michigan, Villanova, and Washington State University to name a few.
From 2018-2024 they worked as an educator, director, and Program Manager with Speak About It, a nonprofit bringing comprehensive and inclusive sex and consent education to college and high school students across the continent. Through Speak About It, leo has written and led workshops for students, student leaders, faculty, and families.
specialties include:
Shakespeare & heightened language
devising & new work development
queer, trans, questioning, and gender expansive stories
kink, bdsm, & power play
stories of complicated consent & non-consensual intimacy
UPCOMING EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
December 7
online
with Theatrical Intimacy Education
Vocal performance pedagogies have historically reinforced binary gendered expectations for vocalists and vocal qualities. We have an opportunity today to reassess these standards, consider the ways these standards have excluded trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming voices, and employ new standards that support every voice. This workshop outlines the necessary considerations to instill these new standards in every classroom, rehearsal room, and beyond. We'll go over some myths and facts around voice and hormone-replacement therapy, share information on up-to-date gender-affirming language and practice, investigate the casting & character tropes that impact the careers of trans vocalists, and more. We know that a gender-expansive and affirming vocal pedagogy supports not only our trans students, but offers opportunities for all students to discover their unique, authentic voice. Presented with Brian Kremer.
Available for pre-order
Queering The Stage : Inclusive Approaches to Performing Gender and Sexuality
Queering the Stage: Inclusive Approaches to Performing Gender and Sexuality addresses a history of stereotyping and provides inclusive approaches to navigating gender and sexuality in a way that does not reduce the broad spectrum of LGBTQ+ communities into a single monolith.
This book is written for instructors of theatre performance and acting wishing to expand their curriculum to include queer concepts in their classroom, and actors working in the industry who want to improve their ability performing characters of diverse genders and sexualities.
