Playbill: It can be dizzying how quickly culture can move.
In 2014, Simon Stephens' theatrical adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time came to Broadway, where it won an impressive five Tony awards and ran for 800 performances. The play centers on a 15 year old autistic teenager named Christopher who has an undefined mathematical savant syndrome; it starred neurotypical actor Alex Sharp. It was supported by an all neurotypical creative team.
6 comments:
I am a fan of the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and seeing it as a show has always been an interest of mine. I just have not had the chance. However, I had no idea that the show on Broadway did not cast any neurodivergent actors or team members. That is extremely disappointing to hear. It is frustrating to know how many shows are still failing to hire cast and creative team members that are diverse and inclusive to the topics in the show. There is no reason as to why there should still be issues like this with casting. I love the fact that there are people out there that are doing something about this and allowing the show to be refined by autistic directors, actors, and team members. This seems like it will be a really exciting and authentic production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and I hope that more shows like this with this kind of a team can be put out into the world.
Never in my life did I think I would read an article that says “Inspiration porn thrives on exceptionalism” and at first, probably given my privilege as a neurotypical person I thought to myself that that phrase was too aggressive. And then the article breaks it down. It gives Rain Man as an example and The Good Doctor and more. All of these existed in an “abled-bodied gaze” They almost always serve to inspire what our society considers “typical” (whether that be physically or neurologically) instead of focusing the story, or producing the story for neurodivergent or disabled people. I don’t completely bash the stories that came before even though they are faulted I do think they may have created space for more authentic stories to take the stage, like this new production. But I do think that new productions like this, and articles like this are necessary to keep the conversation, dialogue, and knowledge moving in the right direction.
Penny preovolos
I was very quick to click on this article. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime has been one of my favorite plays for a long time. I think it is beautifully written and has an impressive production. When I saw it on Broadway I was very impressed. However, I did wonder about the casting choices and if it got any backlash. I never looked into it but after reading this article it sounds like there was. I understand that casting the correct way, meaning bringing neurodiverse representation to the stage, is difficult. It takes a large pool of talent and narrows it to a very specific group of performers. However I believe that getting that representation on stage is so incredibly important. So reading this article brought me a lot of joy. They are doing it the right way. I would love to see more theaters doing this and following the example presented.
I love the curious incident book. As someone who is neurodivergent and grew up being shamed for my “awkward” and “antisocial” behaviors I enjoyed the book. Obviously Christopher has a much different experience than me but his relationship with his parents was something that spoke to 11 year old me as I read the book. It’s really great to see that disabled people are finally being allowed into the spotlight. I do have a physical disability and that’s part of the reason I don’t act on the stage. Because of my disability I could never really dance and thus couldn’t do musicals. I was barred from a lot of productions for not being able to do what all the other kids could. I was in some musicals but never to a great extent. I love what this theater is doing and I love that they’re giving disabled people the freedom to be on stage with their disability. That’s so important and if I had seen that as a kid maybe I would’ve felt more confident in myself.
I analyzed this play in English class in high school, and I really enjoyed it, as we also had to write/journal our thoughts about the play, and we could also do so in a creative way, so I did many designs inspired by the play. I knew about the play being produced on broadway, but I had no idea that they did not cast any neurodivergent cast members, or team members. With productions that discuss sensitive topics, I would always assume that there is someone on the cast to crew that know about the issue, and is a relative expert on the issue. I agree that while the play is written very stereotypically, the production itself shouldn’t be. We’ve always been empowering people of minority, or with disabilities to step out, but when things like this is happening, those people will feel like they can’t step out, as they won’t be taken seriously.
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