 He gained prominence in 1990, when he became one of the few African Americans to head a notable nonprofit theater company as the artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre Company.During Leon's tenure, the company staged premieres of Pearl Cleage's "Blues for an Alabama Sky", Alfred Uhry's "The Last Night of Ballyhoo", and Elton John and Tim Rice's musical "Aida", which went on to Broadway.The Alliance's endowment also rose from $1 to $5 million during his time there.