Pittsburgh lost one of its biggest cheerleaders. Brian Edward Leach, locally known by his stage name, Brian Edward, passed away on Saturday, July 12, 2025. A Point Park alum who went on to create two hilarious shows that skewered Broadway, “Amish Burlesque” and “Lunch Lady Cabaret,” and collaborated on “Quintin Crisp: The Last Word.”
In 2002, Brian Edward was named one of the top leading actors of the year by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
His show, “Amish Burlesque,” toured with the original cast at multiple venues, including the Palace in Greensburg. It ran for six weeks at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s Cabaret Theater, then known as the Cabaret at Theatre Square. It went on to play at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie and at the McKeesport Little Theater. “Amish Burlesque” was described as a bawdy burlesque with the occasional flash of ankle, with devilishly discreet parodies and musical numbers that lampoon Broadway’s finest.
Both shows had a run at the McKeesport Little Theater in McKeesport, 2014 and 2015, respectively, and excerpts from “Lunch Lady Cabaret” were performed at the Music Hall in Carnegie for the Pittsburgh New Works Festival benefit show in 2017. Edward was a board member of PNWF from 2013 to 2017.
In 2011, he won a Donna Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for “Funeral in the Rain,” produced by McKeesport Little Theater. In 2015, Edward won the Donna Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in “The Man That Got Away,” by Jeffrey James, for Phase 3 Productions.
Brian collaborated with drag queen Vyvyan Vyxn on his one-drag performance, “Sensual Home Shopping with Vyvyan Vyxn” on Monday, March 13, 2017, at the Carnegie Stage. Edward also collaborated with Catherine Kolos on “Mood for Love” in 2024.
Kolos said, “There was a captivating magic to Brian that went beyond his immense well of talent and creativity. He was genuinely charming and cared for people with spectacular passion. Underneath the event of him was this brilliant friend who loved art, movies, cooking, and Batman. His loss is devastating, not only for the theater community but for everyone who got to know him. There was never anyone like him, and I doubt there ever will be.”
On September 17, 2017, Edward raised his martini glass high. He examined a vast arena of over-the-top movies and movie stars from the classic era in a comedic performance entitled “Brian Edward: In Person & On Film.” With outrageous film clips, hilarious personal anecdotes, and devastating wit, the Pittsburgh comedian and performer took a humorous look at such classic movies as “Auntie Mame,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Mommie Dearest,” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” Proceeds from the event went to ReelQ, Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Film Festival.
Edward was the creator and founder of ‘Burgh Vivant, Pittsburgh’s online arts and culture talk program where he interviewed Pittsburgh celebrities, such as Mayor Bill Peduto, Mildred Miller Posvar, Jonathan Eaton (Pittsburgh Opera), Christine Tumpson (Whirl Magazine), Randy Kovitz (actor, fight choreographer), Tim Hartman (actor/cartoonist), Phat Man Dee (singer), Heather Henson (puppeteer and daughter of Jim Henson), John Shepard (actor/director), Harish Saluja (Executive Director, Silk Screen Film Festival), Kathryn Spitz Cohan (Executive Director, JFilm Festival), Patrick Jordan (Executive Director, barebones theater), Colleen Petrucci (Pittsburgh Musical Theater), Lidia Bastianich (cookbook author, restaurateur), Toni Haggerty (restaurateur, Primanti Brothers), Daina Michelle Griffith (actor), and many more.
His love of Pittsburgh shone through in every episode, which is available on YouTube.
On the episode with Griffith, she coined the phrase “FIP,” Famous In Pittsburgh, to which Edward quipped, “Well, if I’m FIP, then you’re FIP. I’m definitely IP…In Pittsburgh.”
The ‘Burgh Vivant website featured theatre criticism from Lonnie “The Theatre Lady” Jantsch, Tiffany Raymond, Ph.D., Claire DeMarco, Joe Szalinski, and me (Michael Buzzelli). Recently, the website added Gina McKlveen as an art correspondent. Over the years, ‘Burgh Vivant has had several guest critics, such as Andy Coleman and Nancy Mimless.
In 2017, Brian played Sophia Petrillo in a live reading of scripts from “The Golden Girls.” Alongside Billy Mason (Blanche), Jason Shavers (Dorothy), and Connor McCanlus (Rose) as a special Pride event at Arcade Comedy Theater. The tradition continued every year until the COVID-19 pandemic.
Edward starred in the world premiere of the new play “Quentin Crisp: The Last Word” directed by Spencer Whale at the Hamburg Studio of Pittsburgh’s City Theatre, now known as the Lillie Theatre after the late Dr. Vernell Audrey Watson Lillie. Performer, playwright, and long-time Crisp aficionado Edward was selected by the estate of Crisp to collaborate on the development of the script and to portray Crisp in the stage premiere. Edward co-wrote the play with Phil Ward, Crisp’s assistant and friend. Ward is also the archivist for the Crisperanto website, which holds recordings and transcriptions from Quintin Crisp.
The play was also performed at the Gene Frankel Theatre in 2022. In November 2024, Edward read excerpts from “Quintin Crisp: The Last Word” at the Frankel, alongside other actors and performers in remembrance of Crisp.
Kevin Koch said, “With Brian, it was heart-to-heart. It was effortless. We were all so drawn to him. Brian was the Grand Marshal of our college theatre gang, and wherever he was, that was the hub. Some friends of mine and I were marveling that, looking back, none of us can quite remember when we first met him. It’s like he’s always been there; he just appeared, like magic.”
“Brian’s friendship, loyalty, wisdom, and laughter were a gift I felt almost unworthy to receive, and losing Brian is like losing the rain. I loved him, and I will miss him terribly. Even though he’s gone, he will remain a constant in my life.”
Heidi Baldt Matthews, Music Hall Director at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, said, “Brian possessed a rare charisma that made every room feel brighter, every conversation feel more alive. One moment, he could be devastatingly witty, with a sneer that could freeze your soul; the next, he’d be delightfully silly, full of the carefree playfulness of a child.”
Diana (Leach) Stumpf, Edward’s sister, said, “My brother Brian was an entertainer since birth, though he only had three years in the spotlight until I arrived to shepherd’s hook him offstage. I am so honored to have been his first co-star, and for him to have been my first best friend. It is incomprehensible that he is no longer with us and that this loss will continue to echo so loudly throughout the fabric of space and time. The thought of navigating the rest of this life without my brother is a vacant, colorless world; a darkness so profound that all life seems to have taken a deafening pause to mourn him. You see, Brian painted the world with such vibrant colors everywhere he went, and he touched so, so many of us along the way. He made you feel like he painted you in a special color that no one else in the world had, and he loved you for it.”
Jantsch, AKA Lonnie the Theater Lady, confided, “Brian thought that the German phrase for I love you, ‘Ich liebe dich’ sounded like ‘East Liberty.’ We cracked up about that. After that day, any time he sent me a card, birthday, Christmas, or whatever, he’d write ‘East Liberty.’”
There’s nothing more Pittsburgh than that.
