This play is designed as an allegory of the neurodiverse person. How a neurodiverse person experiences grief, how they see the world, and how they experience love: love of their interests and love of their co-regulators. Non-verbal and non-speaking autistics experience the world in a way that audiences will see and enjoy with a lack of language and linear storytelling. In musical theater there is a general rule that a character starts singing when the emotion is too much for speaking, and they start dancing when there is too much emotion for even singing. This is very much what it feels like for many autistics. The internal noise is so loud that we often cannot speak and lose words. The rebuilding of a carburetor/the heart of the engine will be treated like dream ballets in a musical theater piece. Memories can be experienced and repeated regularly by some autistics. Some will remember a hurt on their knee from a fall in a park over and over, and every time you go to that park they will re-experience that hurt in the same way. Therefore, the verbal storytelling in this play is experienced in a kaleidoscopic way. It is not linear, but emotionally organized. The hurts repeat from something similar that occurs later. The Hollywood version of autistics glamorizes their stims, their ticks, their supposed savant syndrome. This play will not highlight those. The play will always return to how love is experienced quietly and strongly. Not the Hollywood dream way that we have been told from the beginnings of theater. This is a string that some autistics can feel between them, and they may not need touch or have conversation to communicate that love. In fact, talking might ruin it. The silence and the quiet of parallel play is more loving than a passionate hug or kiss. The Sonata Musical Form has inspired the structure of the play. It is akin to the idea of Sondheims Concept Musical. Most autistics love repetition. Repetitions and recapitulations on the theme of the love between 3 generations of neurodiverse people will be explored alongside the special interests of the father.
Location
SUNY Sullivan's Seelig Theatre (View)
112 College Rd.
Loch Sheldrake, NY 12759
United States
write jbarkl@sunysullivan.edu for any needs that range from accessible parking, experiential pre-show tours, ASL interpretation, braille programs, etc.