Curious Antecedents
Neurodiversity in Theatre
(Read from the first post at the bottom first and work up)
(Read from the first post at the bottom first and work up)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k6xDOfjxmlRxCkHhnt4PaoFgf54P_62iyAHmhjL7lQY/edit?usp=sharing
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Finally, for Curious Incident the play to have been produced Curious Incident the book must first be written so the book itself is an antecedent. The book was highly successful winning multiple awards including best novel as well as book of the year from the Whitbread Book Awards, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize (“The Guardian”, 2003, “2004 Commonwealth”, 2004 & "Ethan Frome", 2007). Oddly, the book was released with an adult and children’s version. Arguably, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime couldn’t have done as well if Spoonface Steinberg hadn’t done well first. But also, Curious Incident has a slightly different slant, which has upsides and downsides. There’s a bit of a step back in that the book doesn’t explicitly state that Christopher is autistic although an introduction at the beginning makes reference to Asbergers syndrome (that is an outdated term). A statement from the author Mark Haddon at the time also appears to have good intentions but ends up sounding more like ableist disability erasure. Mark explains, “The Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger's...if anything it's a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder” (Haddon, 2009). Writing a heavily autistic coded character then insisting the book is not about autism but a story for everyone about “difference” indirectly states that a good story should be palatable to neurotypicals and inaccurately invalidates neurodivergent struggles as something to which everyone experiences and relates. Neurotypicals can and should certainly be educated and sympathetic to neurodivergent struggles, but they will never know what it’s like and insisting they do is not only untrue but also patronizing. While a story may be mindfully consumed by everyone it does always need to be ‘for’ everyone. Additionally, many depictions of neurodivergent individuals tend to portray neurodivergents with a type of savant syndrome which can also create the false narrative that all neurodivergent individuals either have some form of genius or that only stories of exceptional neurodivergents deserve telling. Secondly, the author, Mark Haddon, does not have any particular expertise in autism or neurodiversity and is neurotypical. Haddon claims to have “a handful of newspaper and magazine articles about, or by, people with Asperger's and autism” and based the protagonist Christopher on two different people ("Asperger's & Autism," 2018). While representations of neurodivergent individuals as the protagonist and the hero are important and better than none, these characters should ideally be written by a neurodivergent individual or an educated psychologist. This has also led to the author Mark Haddon being strangely worshiped and admired as an autism expert and has even expressed annoyance at “getting phone calls asking him to appear at lectures'' on the subject ("Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Novelist Turned Playwright," 2010). The release of this play and book has meant a neurotypical man has benefitted and profited from an experience he may be able to sympathize with but never truly understand. Mark Haddon also never has to deal with the struggles and ableism autistic people experience. However, this was also twenty years ago when understanding and representation of neurodiversity was far scarcer than it is now. So one must also consider this book and play within its historical context. This play does attempt to sympathetically display autism and the experience of such. In the end, Christopher defends his own innocence against his ablest neighbors who assume he killed the dog and ends up bringing his parents back together so they can somewhat reconcile the past. Additionally, this book was translated into 36 different languages and encouraged masses of people to sympathize with something at least similar to the autistic experience which was a step forward in the right direction. So while it certainly has its flaws it was necessary for progress in a certain time period.
The Sound and the Fury This book covers the happenings of a family over the course of a few days living in the 1930s in the Deep South. This book is stream of consciousness style so even though they all cover the same events from their perspective the reader gains perspective on family history from years past due to the characters jumping in time to their memories. It’s never directly stated but it can be inferred Benji, a brother in the family, has autism. While Benji’s neurodivergent perspective makes him harder to understand, he actually paints a much more objective picture of what happened than any of his neurotypical siblings who severely slant their stories to their benefit. This book is significant because it mirrors the book version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in a couple ways and the difference in both the narratives and their reception marks the cultural shift which allowed Curious Incident to be turned into a book. The first quarter of The Sound and the Fury is told exclusively through the perspective of a disabled character. It's made clear in the first section of the book through Benjy’s perspective, that Benjy is a source of shame and embarrassment to the family. In this book, there is arguably no protagonist. Let it be noted that eventually this book eventually garnered respect as an undeniably essential prototype of modern literature and stream of consciousness. Yet when The Sound and the Fury was first published, literary critic Clifton Fadiman scoffed at the book calling the characters ‘trivial’ and ‘unworthy of the complex craftsmanship expended upon them’ (Fadiman, 1955). Later, in Curious Incident, both of Christopher’s mother is embarrassed of him, but more covertly so, and the whole book is through Christopher’s perspective. Both authors are praised for their ability to portray human thought (Freeman 2003 & “100 Best”, 1995). But unlike The Sound and the Fury, Curious Incident immediately received postive feedback as it won the Book Trust Teenage Fiction Award, Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, Whitbread Book of the Year and the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction the same year it came out in 2003 (“The Guardian”, 2003, “2004 Commonwealth”, 2004 & "Ethan Frome", 2007). This shift in reception marks the cultural shifts needed for the book to be turned into a play nine years later. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape This depicts a family living in a small country town in Iowa. This movie often questions who has the disability. Arnie is most likely autistic which causes him to be far behind the usual trajectory of his neurodivergent peers, but seems perfectly happy and isn’t as impacted by the obstacles weighing down the rest of the family. Gilbert must constantly care for his brother Arnie rather than going off and starting his career, finding his identity and starting a new life as would be appropriate in his young adulthood. Their mother is chronically depressed which disables her motivation to do anything besides sit, and her weight makes her a “freak” in the eyes of the town. This may not be an obvious choice of antecedent, however, while theatre often comes ahead of the curve before film when it comes to social issues, film will often indicate what is en vogue or acceptable in the mainstream. This is somewhat of an indie film but if representing neurodivergent characters in a sympathetic light was not acceptable, Leonardo Dicaprio’s career most likely would have hit a bit of a bump before DiCaprio hit stardom, but soon after this, he landed titanic and Romeo and Juliet. Having this movie do well indicated more mainstream audiences, not just progressive theater goers, were ready to see sympathetic neurodivergent which indicated the public was ready to see Christopher in Curious Incident as a heroic figure on stage. Having Christopher as a hero also negates certain tropes of those with differences being dangerous or scary. Posts on Broadway World, and Reddit claim Michal in Pillowman has “Aspergers”, a term which should not be used (argonautory & The Distinctive Baritone, 2019). But the play also makes it clear Michal has traumatic brain damage which is much more likely to drastically change a person’s personality and reasoning to predispose them to horrible violence like Michal committed in Pillowman than autism would. The play never outright says Michal has autism, but the sources which do claim autism coding liken Michal’s symptoms of brain damage to symptoms of autism. This may not be the playwright's fault directly but it does point to a larger cultural bias of the public viewing those with autism as dangerous or scary. This isn't to say neurodivergent people should always be depicted as perfect, but authors must also be careful in what type of canon authors collectively create. In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Gilbert is the protagonist of the story and the story revolves around him, but his neurodivergent brother Arnie is depicted as charming and endearing in a notable supporting role. Even a review a year after the film’s release, corroborates that point, “His performance succeeds in being both convincing and likable”(Ebert, 1994). Gilbert is friendly and sociable, inviting everyone to his birthday party and often adds some levity with his excitement over his favorite restaurant Burger Barn and bugs. Most of the time Gilbert cares for his brother and soothes him very gently, but when Gilbert finally hits Arnie out of frustration, it’s hard to watch. Additionally, similar to Lost in Yonkers with Bella’s struggle with finding love, Arnie is not just comic relief. Arnie is the first member of the Grape family to find out their mother, Bonnie, has died, and the grief Arnie shows in the scene is one of the saddest scenes in the film. This movie also depicts something that Lost in Yonkers doesn't so much. Arnie has multiple meltdowns in this movie. If this movie didn't show a fuller range of Arnie’s likable qualities and the humanity of his meltdowns, the public may not have been ready to watch Christopher’s meltdowns in Curious Incident. The National Theatre of the Deaf and theatres for physical disabilities founded in the 1980s set the historical scene for the Miracle Project to center around those with autism. In 2004, Elaine Hall founded the Miracle Project. Elaine Hall was a highly successful children’s acting coach. When she adopted her son Neal from Russia and realized he had autism, she wanted a way to share her love of theatre with Neal without forcing her own neurotypical expectations of what that may look like on Neal. Elaine put together a team of experts including Dr. Barry Prizant, Dr. Ricki Robinson and the late Dr. Stanley Greenspan and together they made a method of coaching and instruction for educators to teach dance, acting and music in a way that's more accessible to autistic students. This is incredibly important because it thins the line for autistic people in between just observing as audience members and participating as performers. Training autistic artists is crucially important. Because in order for autist artists to compete competitively with their peers, they must have access to training which makes sense to them like everyone else. Based off her research she wrote the book The Seven Keys to Unlock Autism (a bit of an unfortunate name because it makes autistic people sound like a secret chamber that requires one to answer a riddle to enter, rather than just a person with a neurological difference, but she had good intentions). Finally, with the help of a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation, Elaine created the Miracle Project which combined verbal and non verbal autistic performers with other neurotypical performers to produce a full length musical. This organization gave children with autism a community and a chance to make friends with both neurodivergent and neurotypical artist peers. In 2006, The Miracle Project produced AUTISM: The Musical (These titles are awful) which went on to win two Emmy awards. This movie serves to document the production of the musical along with the lives of the parents and children. A review from the time (and yes, this author is credited elsewhere because they wrote two pertinent articles), which praises the documentary but also reveals some old attitudes regarding autism reports, “It’s the story of what it’s like to be the parent of a child with autism or any other serious disability, a tale that deserves to be told even if it is difficult to watch” (Genzlinger, 2008). The Miracle Project has spread internationally and its ambassadors offer professional workshops, training and summer camps at Universities such as Brown and Cal Arts as well as in New Jersey, New England, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and China (“Our History”). Here's a link to AUTISM: The Musical https://youtu.be/IqTLqIn7_FA But it’s exceedingly unlikely this type of organization would have succeeded if other organizations hadn’t first endeavored to make theatre accessible for other types of disabilities. Oftentimes, more obvious disabilities which impair one of the five senses garner more sympathy first because its more obvious what's causing the difference in a person. “Obvious” is easier to understand an “easier to understand’ generally garners more sympathy. While some neurodivergents mask more effectively than others, but this often acts as a double edged sword. If a neurodivergent passes as neurotypical their struggles or degree of struggle may be brushed off as something everyone struggles with occasionally. If someone comes off differently to a more obviously degree, they may either be ostracized or dismissed as too disruptive due to arm flapping, vocalizations or their stimming behaviors. As well as being ostracized due to their differences scaring people. It is incorrect and in no way productive to discuss whether people with mental or physical disability disabilities struggle more. Additionally, neurodivergents may appear to be able to function normally and survive on their own. However, their quality of life may often be damaged and their ability to excel is often impaired due to success being gained and measured by neurotypical standards in a neurotypical world. Each type of disability has its own set of challenges.We have been able to diagnose physical disabilities for much longer due to their more obvious nature and the difficulty of studying not just basic psychology but studying how people’s brain may be differently structured, such as with neurodivergence (Ecker, 2015). For an obviously and openly declared neurodivergent person to exist on stage, more work in showing openly disabled people had to be done. Many of American playwright John Belluso’s plays focused on life with disability. Belluso’s 2005 play Rules of Charity focuses on the life of a wheelchair bound man with cerebral palsy (THEATRE, 2003). Cerebral Palsy mainly impacts physical movement but can also impair reasoning and cognition which can also create language difficulties ("Cerebral Palsy”, 2017). This play also highlights having to rely on a caretaker. In this play Monty, the man with cerebral palsy, relies on his daughter Loretta as a caretaker. In Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Christopher also relies on his mother in a different way than a neurotypical 15 year old would. The Rules of Charity, no doubt made an impact on exposing people to who sound and act a little different due to neurological differences and the realities of people who are caretakers of adults or near adults because after opening at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco it had an off broadway run from May 26, 2007 to July 24, 2007. Additionally, unlike Curious Incident, this play’s author, John Belluso, may not know the neurological struggles of cerebral palsy but is wheelchair bound due to Camurati-Englemann Disease, so he knows first hand the struggles of a physical disability (Shinn, 2015). A review at the time talks about how the theatre utilized for the off broadway run is significant because Theater by the Blind intentionally hires disabled alongside able bodied crew, very appropriate to the show. This theatre was already doing work including disabled people not just in the audience but in the production itself (Genzlinger, 2007). Curious Incident served as the next intermediate step of actually getting yet another neurodivergent character on stage. Hopefully, moving forward all the actors playing Christopher and those writing on neurodivergent characters will themselves be neurodivergent. The radio cast of Spoonface was well received and counts as good representation for multiple reasons. Spoonface is autistic. It’s not just implied or coded but directly said. Spoonface is also female, Jewish, and disabled by leukemia. This 60 minute radio play monologue was supposed to just air once on Monday January 27, 1997. However, it was so popular upon first broadcast, it was broadcasted again two other times, on the following Saturday and later on TV in October of 1998. Notably, a little girl of color portrayed Spoonface and this showed up in some of the promotional material for the original radio broadcast. But these pictures are hard to find and the face of a different little girl is much easier to find now. Additionally, cassette tapes of the original broadcast went on to sell thousands of copies (Higgins, 1998). Three years later in 2000, the playwright Lee Hall created a stage adaptation of his play, (the title role was played by a 42 year old actress) directed by Marcello Magni and Annie Castledine. The play spread and was produced by the Scottish Tron Theatre in 2002. There were two touring versions in 2009 and 2013. Notably the 2013 production received Buxton Festival nominations for best production and best actress (“2013 Fringe”, 2013). Find the full broadcast of Spoonface here: https://youtu.be/KzF4LOLyw1g Lost in YonkersIt’s also worth noting Lost In Yonkers could have also played a part in paving the way for Spoonface Steinberg the radio play to be successful. Sometimes, many lesser known authors may write on important but largely ignored topics, and it may take a well known author to take a cue from some up and coming authors to help shift the tide of public thinking and what the majority will accept. Oftentimes, it’s first more productive to write on something without explicitly naming it so an audience will be more open to listening to the truth of a certain perspective or experience without bringing their preconceived and inaccurate assumptions that come with their hearing a certain name or label. By the time Neil Simon wrote Lost in Yonkers he had already greatly established himself as a legendary playwright. Almost 30 years earlier in 1965, Neil Simon had won a Tony for the Odd Couple and by 1983 a New York theatre had been named after him. Simon has more Tony and Oscar nominations than any other writer (“About Neil Simon”, 2000). Thus by 1991 when Lost in Yonkers came out, an international audience was primed with baited breath to hear any story written by Neil Simon. Lost in Yonkers has a major character named Bella who’s autism coded in a couple ways. One she’s older and unmarried, but due to social difficulty rather than by choice. Secondly, she’s always had a learning disability. Learning disabilities and autism don’t always go together, but often it can be more difficult for neurodivergents of all types to learn from a curriculum designed and catered to neurotypical minds. This can even mean neurodivergents may have no learning disability at all but still struggle in ways many teachers don’t know how to diagnose. While neurodivergents can certainly form meaningful, successful intimate romantic relationships with neurotypical people, some others find no or low success until they find someone similar neurologically to themselves. This is the case with Bella who falls for a forty year old movie theatre usher, who seldom talks except to ask Bella to marry him which sounds quite akin to some mostly nonverbal autistic people. Lost in Yonkers did very well as it won nine awards including a Pulitzer Prize for best drama, a Tony award for best play and and the actress who played Bella (Mercedes Ruhl) also won a Tony for best actress (Longsdorf, 1993). Let it be noted Mercedes Ruhl appeared as Bella in the original broadway version and the film version. Ruhl made a distinction in an interview between the film and theatre version. She explained how her love interest Johnny is only mentioned in the original broadway version but Johnny shows up in the movie version and has some scenes with Bella. In an interview Ruhl claims having the love interest Johnny in the film, showed a more mature side to Bella’s character that wasn't seen as clearly in the stage version. Lastly, Ruhl never mentions Bella could have a neurodivergence (Bobbie Wygant Archive, 2020). Which could suggest two things, either Ruhl does not mention it because she knows outright saying it could have caused backlash, or Simon wrote Bella very neurodivergent coded but didn't realize. Regardless, many neurodivergent individuals can relate to being seen as more to being seen as more childish than they are and for that reason being underestimated and not taken seriously. But what's special about this is she proves her family members wrong and shows she can take on being an adult. Here's a link to watch Mercedes Ruehl's acceptance speech and an interview: https://youtu.be/O0xJ3Hiz7gw https://youtu.be/TpAl0T1vBRE Neurodivergent Representation in Curious IncidentBacklash over neurodiversity still occurred and occurs years after Lost in Yonkers was happening and closed. The character of Christopher himself was played by neurotypical actors for a long time. The first autistic actor to play Christopher, Mickey Rowe, had been fired from acting jobs in the past merely on the basis of his autism. Rowe recalls, “I’ve never gotten over the trauma of being fired from a play, mere weeks before tech rehearsals, when I revealed to the director that I have an invisible disability.” Rowe advocates strongly for not just making theatre accessible for disabled people as audience members but also professional theatre practitioners. Almost all, 95%, of disabled roles have always been played by non disabled people (Prooker, 2022). To understand where relaxed performances came from, one must first understand the origins of disability theatre. Autism as a concept and term is still relatively new. Prior to understanding hardly any neurodivergences, there was theatre specifically catering to those with more obvious disabilities such as deafness. National Theatre for the Deaf sprung into action in 1967 in Connecticut. NTD produces plays which mix American Sign Language and spoken language to connect hearing and deaf communities while still emphasizing the talents and the culture of the deaf community. NTD has done extensive work to expose ASL and deaf art to the general public. An article written just a short time before they started their first tour claims they set themselves apart from other deaf artists of the time in two ways. Firstly, they ventured abroad outside of their neighborhood and state to tour. The volume mentions how many deaf performers’ shows fall into the category of ‘parlor entertainment’ where the performance is not publicized, all the performers simply invite their friends and family, put on a great show and everyone enjoys themselves, but the show never gets professional or critical recognition due to the lack of publicity. Traveling out of town forces the show to put out advertisements for anyone to come. It also puts extra pressure on performers to put on their best when performing before strangers rather than adoring family members. Secondly, the National Theatre of the Deaf refused to perform in schools or centers for the deaf. They made much effort to find professional theatres near schools and centers for the deaf so other deaf people would know about it and come. They felt their work should be considered along with able bodied artists’ work, and they believed in the quality of their work and knew everyone, deaf and hearing, should come. They worried if they performed in schools and centers for the deaf, only other deaf people would attend. Another way they stove to draw in both communities, was including two forms of dialogue. Both spoken word and sign language plays were put on by the Theatre of the Deaf. Incorporating both spoken word and sign language not only gathered more audiences, it also challenged audiences' ideas of the best way to consume and understand the narratives of a piece of theatre. (Hays, 1967). NTD was very successful and is one of the oldest theatres still operating going on national and international tours since they opened, and they regularly produce original works too (Johnston, 2016). Look down below for a link to a video about sign language theatre! https://youtu.be/IlX4Zt4sPtE The National Theatre for the Deaf pioneered disability theatre as we know it today and paved the way for the bigger disability arts and theatre movement in the 1980s. But even a couple years before that, London theatre company Access All Areas was founded for autistic and disabled adults to work professionally with a diploma in Performance Making through Central School of Speech and Drama. CSSD also manages a group of professional disabled artists (“Access All Areas” & “Performance Making Diploma”). Notably, the non profit Theatre Development fund which later started the Autism Theatre Initiative was founded in New York in 1968 (Hershberg). Moving forward with disability theatre in the 1980s, the Graeae Theatre was founded in the United Kingdom in 1980, Theatre Terrific in Canada in 1985 and Back to Back Theatre in Australia in 1988 all centering around giving people with disabilities a place to do theatre (Johnston, 2016). Before an obviously and explicitly neurodivergent character would have been allowed to be up on stage, neurodivergent people would first need to feel welcome in the theatre at all. “Relaxed” performances certainly helped with such. Autism Theatre Initiative, a branch of Theatre Development Fund started working with broadway producers to formulate relaxed performances. The first antecedent for the theatre version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a disability theatre accessibility combined in box relaxed performances and National Theatre of the Deaf. “ATI pioneering the first autism-friendly Broadway musical in 2011 with The Lion King…Lisa Carling, director of the Theatre Development Fund’s (TDF) Accessibility Programs, which launched the ATI in 2011”(Viswanathan, 2015). Audience members often complain when in the presence of a autistic audience members due to their stimming. Ironically, most theatres prohibit snacks and fidget toys which help to lessen more distracting stimming. In order to create this neurodivergent history moment, ATI gathered a triumvirate of two autism specialists and a person with autism and asked them to make a list of critiques to bring to ATI who would then discuss with the producer all the necessary light and sound adjustments. They restricted all sound to 90 decibels and completely cut any strobes. Lighting personnel increased house lights by 30% for the whole show and lighting crew also softened any abrupt sensory moments such as blackouts to fades. Additionally, the theatre provided caregivers with special guides listing any significant sensory moments. Later, Aladdin received a sensory remake and listed the Cave of Wonders as a potential trigger. The production kept the fireworks but with reduced sound. The magic carpet soared over the audience (with house lights at full), this audience met the carpet not just with claps but jumps, and waves as well. A standout moment like this normally wouldn't have been allowed or even would’ve happened without first creating accessibility. ATI also works with producers to offer patrons tickets at a 40 to 50% discount for low income accessibility. ATI also offers seating charts listing speaker locations and inclined sections of the theatre like balconies. Additionally, they provide a script for caregivers to prepare their kids for what to expect when walking through Times Square (a particularly overstimulating experience for anyone but especially for those with autism) and what to expect in the theatre complete with a guide of all the characters and their pictures in the context of them on stage rather than having a headshot of an actor out of character and/or out of makeup. Furthermore, these performances include designated quiet areas where patrons can draw or color, play with toys or merely sit still if the performance gets too overwhelming. These shows staff 30 volunteers either with autism specialist certifications or individuals with personal experience in caring for autistic individuals. These volunteers arm themselves with earplugs or noise canceling headphones so patrons with the most sensory sensitivities can still enjoy the show. Lesli Margherita, Matilda’s mother in Matilda! remarked she particularly enjoyed performing for an energetic responsive audience. She also pointed out how appropriate it was to revamp a show about a little girl who sees the world differently for a whole audience of children who see the world differently. Lastly, ATI even provides a guide of the most autism friendly restaurants close to the theatre (low lit, no loud blaring tvs and lower noise in general). ATI mainly focused on shows, mainly only musicals, for younger audiences. However, when Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time came out, ATI reworked that show as well, and it made a huge impact for older individuals on the spectrum (Viswanathan, 2015). |