Leavitt is the playwright of Anglers, the winner of the Ninth Annual International Play Competition, which is premiering at McLeod Theater Friday night.

The play is about two families in the Southwest trying to make some money from the tourist business, while becoming more aware of the land around them by fighting a government mining project.

The rules of this year’s competition was that the play needed to be about an environmental issue. It is a very serious topic, but one of the reasons the script won was that it took a light-hearted approach to a very serious topic.

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All topics have both sides to them, Leavitt said. I am basically a happy person, and that comes out in my writing. The first job of theater is to entertain, and that is what I do.

She pauses and looks around at the stage, seeing how her words on paper have become a three-dimensional image, and smiles again.

The set is just wonderful, she says, laughing and joking about how she hopes her play isn’t upstaged by the scenery.

The play, based on many actual events, focuses on how a government uranium milling operation is contaminating the water in a small town.

The owners of a local bait shop and motel, who try a couple of different ideas to lure tourists to them, realize what is going on and decide to try to halt the production.

The title has a double meaning, Leavitt said. Anglers stands for a person who fishes, but I also meant it that everyone in the play has an angle. Everyone wants something.

The play becomes a metaphor for the two groups, playing off who is right and who is wrong. The government is making money from the dumping, and the families are trying to make money by inventing new ways to trick tourists.

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The characters each want something, but they don’t get it the way they way they think they will, she says. The characters begin to question if they are becoming the same as what they are fighting.

Leavitt said that writing about an environmental topic in a light-hearted manner was just her way of getting a point across.

If you want to do something to save the planet, you should join Greenpeace or something along those lines, she said This is a beautiful planet, and people should do whatever they can to help. I am a writer, so this is what I do.

She then sits back and glances at the empty theater seats staring back at her.

Theater should be the church of the people, she said.Art is necessary for us. It is lower on the hierarchy then food and shelter, but it is there. The simple truth is, we need art in our lives.

Anglers premiers at 8 p.m. September 29 at McLeod Theater. Ticket prices are $4 for students with an I.D. and children under 15, $8 for adults, and $7 for seniors.

The play will also be shown Sept. 30, Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 at 8 p.m., and Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. The box office is open from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 453-3001.