Monday, April 10, 2023
It’s Well Past Time for an All-Neurodivergent Staging of ‘Curious Incident’
AMERICAN THEATRE: Sydney Zarlengo introduces themself with many descriptors: “‘I’m a queer, autistic, disabled, non-binary actor-educator-composer.” The 21-year-old theatre-and-psychology major speaks with poise, authenticity, and a passion for creating accessible theatre. This force of nature is currently directing and playing the lead role of Christopher in their college thesis production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is also the first time this oft-produced play is being staged with an entirely all-neurodivergent cast and crew.
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2 comments:
Curious Incident is a beautiful show. My brother is on the spectrum, and he wasn’t diagnosed until he was 17. Curious having the ability to help people realize they may be on the spectrum is a powerful thing. And that’s because the subject matter is evocative in itself, but furthermore, the narrative of the play is THROUGH Christopher. The comments about the overstimulating choices within productions alienating the people it’s meant to represent is an interesting thought. You have to ask yourself what’s more important - a neurotypical audience experiencing what the main character is to provoke empathy and engagement, or those who are sensitive to those very experiences being able to identify with and enjoy the piece. Honestly, I don’t know if I have an answer to that. However, I am a large proponent of actually autistic actors playing Christopher. A good friend of mine just directed a wonderful production of Curious at a high school, and made sure the student playing Christopher did research, and even had him and the other cast members speak to my parents to learn about first hand experiences. However, none of that can compare to an actually autistic actor playing Christopher, because I predict that no one who is neurotypical can accurately understand what is happening in the character’s mind.
Curious Incident is by far one of my favorite stage plays for its ability to tell a wonderful story through the lens of someone who functions differently from the neurotypical lens we see a majority of shows through. This show in particular really brings a different light to the story by giving substance to the extremely realistic story of a child who just exists; he is different, but he is just existing none-the-less. I think that having a fully neurodivergent casting of this show would be really interesting, and I would want to see it myself if it were ever produced, not only for its ability to bring representation to people with disabilities, but also for its ability to normalize the existence of mental disabilities outside of the stage, and continue to support the idea that existing with mental disabilities takes a lot of different shapes, and it does not need to have any physical resemblance in a person’s life to still exist socially. People can still be neurodivergent and not show any physical signs of having said disabilities; a lot of people exist with those conditions, and it should be recognized that these people still deserve accommodations for their ailments without being discriminated against.
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