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)
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).
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