Lenny Pinna is an accomplished eclectic artist with an extensive background in theater arts and education; his MFA in Dramaturgy is indicative of his expansive yet detailed approach to the dramatic narrative form.  His experiences range from new play development to East-West fusion theater to his inclusion of masks and puppetry in plays he has directed.  His trend toward film began in the mid-nineties with him operating a VHS camera to intimately capture the movement and subtleties of the productions he directed.    

In 2000, he naturally segued into making the singularly unique docu-drama, Letters to Uranus; the hidden life of Tedd Burr. His collaboration with then seventy-six year old Cleveland theater actor, Tedd Burr resulted in a two hour, cinema verite style film that was shot in one evening in non-stop unedited real time in one-take. That one evening began his now twenty-four year journey with the discovered original correspondence of letters between a young, nineteen year old Tedd Burr living in Bellevue, OH and the famous author of Kings Row, Henry Bellaman, who lived at the prestigious Ansonia Hotel in NYC.  Lenny recently edited and published Tedd and Henry’s  World War II era letters for the first time in the book, A Face From Uranus: Correspondence Between Tedd Burr and Henry Bellamann 1943 – 1945

 Subsequently, their letters became the inspiration for the proposed Limited TV Series, In The Name of Jamie Wakefield “Too Pretty For A Boy.” Most recently he teamed up with media artist, Bonnie Diczhazy to produce the ninety minute series pilot for “Too Pretty For A Boy.”  Once again--made possible only with Bonnie’s technical expertise-- Lenny has created a singularly unique, film production.  He achieved this extraordinary feat in the 4ft. x 6ft. corner of the living room of his childhood home in PA.  His artistic eclecticism is present in every moment of the pilot, beginning with him playing every one of the 25+ characters, often playing multiple characters in scenes with no intercutting or editing, except for the last scene which is intentional.  With no preproduction storyboarding, he organically designed sets, costumes, make up, props, lighting, camera angles (using an iMac,) sewing a quilt top in two days which serves as the primary backdrop, and foraging through his home and attic to find heirloom artifacts.  His effort was truly the film equivalent of  “Hey kids, let’s put on a play,” albeit with someone who has the ambition, imagination, experience, expertise, and sheer audacity to attempt such a monumental feat.  And he did it in a month!