Toni Schlesinger

Who is Toni Schlesinger?

Toni Schlesinger is a Chicago-native, New York City-based journalist and theater artist. She is best known for her long running “Shelter” column in The Village Voice and The New York Observer; a selection of the Voice pieces are gathered in the book Five Flights Up. Previously, Schlesinger was a writer and columnist for the Chicago Reader.

Less known but equally important to Schlesinger is her theater work—an obvious influence on interview style—which includes dozens of monologues, long and short plays. These have been performed at numerous Off-Off-Broadway venues over the last decade. In February 2014, she performed "The Mystery of Pearl Street" at Dixon Place. This piece was commissioned by Dixon Place and performed by Schlesinger and actors Heather Thiry and Carl Fengler to mixed reviews. In "The Village Voice," Alexis Soloski writes that the "material is is genuinely fascinating" and then goes on to say: "But the playwright seems strangely uncomfortable onstage, which is odd, as she's confidently presented many charming puppetry pieces."