Waverly Hart
Editor in Chief
This weekend, The College of Wooster Department of Theatre and Dance will show “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- Time,” a play about a boy investi- gating the mystery surrounding the death of a neighbor’s dog. Directed by Shirley Huston-Findley, the play promises to be a delightful, charm- ing and sentimental production.
Based on a novel by Mark Had- don of the same name, the play was adapted by Simon Stephens and premiered in London in 2012. The play follows the young protagonist Christopher Boone, an intelligent 15-year-old boy with autism who turns into an amateur detective when he discovers his neighbor’s dog is dead.
“Christopher discovers that his neighbor’s dog has been murdered with a garden fork and decides that he is going to try to solve ‘the mys- tery of Who Killed Wellington’,” said Brian Luck ’22, who is playing Christopher Boone. “As he starts investigating, he learns more about his mother and the murder mystery becomes a much larger story about his family. Overall, it’s about Chris- topher’s journey and his hopes for the future, proving to himself and others that he can do anything he sets his mind to.”
“[Christopher] navigates com- plicated family issues as the mys- tery unravels and we get to see him grow alongside those close to him,” said Elise Muhl ’22, who will play the role of Siobhan, Christopher’s teacher.
The cast and crew have been preparing for this weekend since early September. In addition to rehearsing, Luck says those in- volved have also been researching elements of the play.
“We’ve all done a lot of research on people with autism so that we can all do the show as respectfully and accurately as possible,” Luck stat- ed. “Playing Christopher has been amazing. He’s a character very near to my heart because my cousin also has autism.”
For those who are familiar with either the novel or the play, Luck promises Wooster’s production will keep beloved elements while also in- corporating new aspects.
“We’re definitely keeping the tra- dition of this show having really cool technical elements and a set that
can become many things,” he said. “We are breaking away from some of the other things done before and creating new moments in the show.”
One of the new elements in- cludes performing a sensory- friendly performance on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 5:00 p.m.
“The director, Shirley Huston- Findley, is working alongside our sensory-friendly performance coor- dinator Casey Lohman to provide a performance … that will minimize sensory triggers and make the show more accessible,” Muhl said.
“We’re doing a sensory-friendly performance of this show because one major criticism of the show in the past has been that the people who it gives representation to often cannot see it because of the techni- cal elements,” stated Luck. “In doing
the sensory-friendly show, we are giving real people like Chris- topher the opportunity to see themselves represented onstage in a safe environment.”
“My experience with the play has been wonderful,” Muhl said. “We do a lot of hard work and everyone in the cast and crew is looking forward to sharing what we have created! It has so many beautiful, emotional and heartfelt moments that I hope people enjoy the show.”
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” will be per- formed in Freedlander Theatre Nov. 1and2at7:30p.m.,aswellasasen- sory-friendly performance on Nov. 3 at 5:00 p.m. Tickets are free to Col- lege of Wooster students, but they must pick up their ticket at the box office before the performance.