On the sixth of November 2021, excited parents, teachers, and students bustled around the Tomilson theater entrance, waiting to watch the latest student-led production in a very long time.
Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is about Christopher (played by Tyler Dugus) is a young math wiz on the autism spectrum, who finds the murderer of Wellington (a dog owned by his neighbor Ms. Shears). Except the play isn’t really about that and turns into a hunt for Christopher’s mother (played by Jordan Scott) who abandoned Christopher and his father (played by Fletcher Silberg) after having an affair with their neighbor Mr. Shear (played by Taylor Redding). Christopher was told by his father that his mother died from a heart attack. Overall, the story turns into more than a murder mystery about a dog, and evolves into a story about parenting, autism, and abuse.
Photo by Leslie Furlong
After an unforeseen delay the play started and by intermission, I was amazed by the acting, lighting, and sound that was produced. This was the youngest cast out of any other Jemicy performance making it even more impressive. The first act set everything up and during the break it made me want to know what will happen next.
The scene that stood out to me in the first act was the final letter scene. The scene depicted Christopher reading all the notes that his mother sent to him. At this time Christopher had always thought his mother was dead so it had to come across as a very emotional scene. The acting was great, with the lighting mostly directed at Christopher’s mother. Even though not much was going on in the scene, the lines were executed perfectly. The scene ended with Christopher’s father coming home, seeing his son with piles of letters around him. This scene was memorable because of the amount of genuine emotion the actors conveyed, something that stood out in several other scenes. Overall, this scene was perfectly done and the best out of the first act.
The second act was even better than the first. The student’s acting really showed and the lights and sound were utilized even better. This act includes Christopher running away to London to find his mother, meeting his mother, and the final conclusion of the play. While the letter scene in the first act was impressive the subway scene blew me away. Unlike the final letter scene, almost every aspect of the theater program took part in making this scene fantastic. It depicts Christopher going down onto the subway tracts to find Toby (Christopher’s pet rat). The lines were comedic yet at the same time, the audience was worried that Christopher was about to be hit by a train. The train is coming and in only a couple of seconds the lights change, the boxes are moved and a blaring light is residing from the center of the stage. I felt like a train was coming right at the audience and I was impressed with the lights, sound, and reaction time of the actors.
As a school for students with language-based learning differences, it is rare to
Sean Elias
find theatrical work conceived for the stage that both reflects our community’s
lived experience and holds deep dramatic merit.”
Photo by Leslie Furlong
Sean Elias (the director of the play) believes they accomplished three main things “first, working with a cast of neurodiverse students inherently brought authenticity to the piece by allowing for the display of truthful neuroatypical behavior, not a dramatic recreation of what is thought to be neurotypical behavior. Second, we were able to create a theatrical language in our design that both emulates Christopher’s experience and compliments the inherent theatricality of the piece without becoming something in and of itself. Third, our choices have allowed us to celebrate the intrinsic wonder of live theatre. The simple, creative solutions that artists find that take us to new places, worlds, and in the case of this piece, solar systems.”
The theater program only puts on two plays a year and sometimes gets overshadowed by sports and other activities. Many also don’t see the amount of effort or people working on the play because so much of it is off stage. 90% of the year the program looks silent, but the students are actually working as hard as they can to create a production of the highest quality. The theater program is essential to Jemicy, it shows students not only how to work in theater, but to have patience and dedication along with time management.
The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time was a success. It was an enjoyable experience to watch and more importantly gave the students more practice for future productions. The theater program should continue to grow and teach students the art of theater.
MOOSE PRINTS 