Set against the ultra-violent, unstable times of New York City in 1993, "It If Bleeds, It Leads" is the true story of Sean Allison’s career as a journalist chasing murder, mayhem, and horror behind his camera, documenting some of the most brutal killings during the era of New York's highest crime rate. As Allison notes in the play, there were 2,420 murders in the city in 1993: more than one every four hours. He was only able to work the job for about a year-and-a-half, since he was exposed to the type of gore and death usually experienced by those in war zones. The play is filled with real-life scenes that mimic that of a horror movi; a cabbie executed with a .22 caliber pistol during a robbery, a firefight with automatic weapons between teenagers and the NYPD, an emotionally disturbed person in a straitjacket who escapes from an ambulance and throws himself off the Queensboro Bridge, his body landing in the middle of a kids’ basketball game. Allison won Best Storyteller for I"f It Bleeds, It Leads" after its premiere at the United Solo Festival in the fall of 2023.
