OnStage Blog: If you’re reading this column as someone who is already familiar – to some extent or another – with my writing, then you are probably aware that I have Asperger’s syndrome, a high functioning form of autism that has occasionally caused me to have some struggles throughout my academic life (despite the stereotype that exists for people with Asperger’s, I am TERRIBLE at math) and – far more significantly – has admittedly contributed to issues I’ve had over the years with both making and sustaining friendships and relationships over the years. It’s also led me to develop certain obsessive behaviors at times, which I’d like to think I’ve turned into a plus as an adult, as I focus my obsessions on my work as a writer – most especially my playwriting – nowadays.
3 comments:
This is a topic that requires a lot of unpacking. I think the author does a good job at explaining his position, and addressing the arguments against him. I really do agree with what he was saying at the end. As a stage manager, I often don't see the playwright as a living person, I am so used to having a script and thats it. When the author was discussing that it may even be more important for the playwright to be the one on the spectrum than the actor, I understand where he was coming from and do agree in some ways. That way, the story is a perspective that is real, and not just another outsider looking in. I really do agree with the ending that the author points out, that it is so rare to have someone who is autistic in this industry, let alone an actor, and even those that are on the spectrum are often highly functioning to the point where they just 'pass' as neurotypical. So while it would be nice that an actor with the same background as a character can be cast, and written from a similar perspective, this industry is very much not favorable to those people.
I loved this article for a lot of reasons. The first being that this is a topic that I am very interested in that I dont feel like gets as much attention as it probably should. As we move into an age of theater that is hopefully more inclusive for people with disabilities I am curious to see how many of those characters will be played by the people who for example are autistic and how many will not. Honestly, I have not formed an opinion about whether or not I think it is okay for someone without whatever condition it is to play a character with it, and I don't think it's my place to decide. I think someone with a closer relationship to whatever it is should get to make the call, and I assume that there will not be a consensus among those people either. In the end I hope that more of these stories are written, and I hope that as an industry we begin to hire more people who are disabled but as we start to do that there are going to have to be deeper discussions about what is okay and what is not, and I look forward to learning more from people who know way more than me about what they think.
Piccione's perspective is definitely one the holds a lot of weight in the casting community. As times change, the entertainment industry has become more accurate in their portrayals of different people and this article provides some insight as to how effective that is. It is very important to bring accuracy and realness to a certain character, but in this case that accuracy has to come with a form of respect. I think that playing autistic can be insensitive if it isn't topped with more layers that isn't just autism. Personally, I think that justifying non-autistic actors playing autistic characters is detrimental to reality and progression when it comes to casting.
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