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source: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/ENTERTAINMENT/108110101/-1/news
New musical explores complexity of autism
By TOM KRESSLER
Telegraph Correspondent
Although the ages of the actors at Andy’s Summer Playhouse range from 8-18, don’t expect anything childish emerging from their summer stage.
“Most of us who work here totally despise child theater,” said Bob Lawson, artistic diirector of Andy’s and writer of the upcoming musical, “Tabula Rasa.” “A lot of our work is very complex. Some of the kids may not get a lot of the meaning, but they are totally engaged.”
“Tabula Rasa,” which opens today and runs through Aug. 21, is an original musical interweaving three convergent storylines: the first a creative retelling of the Wild Boy of Averyon, a true story of a boy in 19th-century France assumed to have been raised by wolves; the second about a 21st-century autistic girl named Emily who is confined in a medicated state; and the third an incorporation of the classic “Hansel and Gretel” tale originally told by the Brothers Grimm.“It is really about what we do as a civilization to define normalcy and what we do to make people normal – however that is defined – such as prescribing medication,” explained Lawson.
( Read more... )
New musical explores complexity of autism
By TOM KRESSLER
Telegraph Correspondent
Although the ages of the actors at Andy’s Summer Playhouse range from 8-18, don’t expect anything childish emerging from their summer stage.
“Most of us who work here totally despise child theater,” said Bob Lawson, artistic diirector of Andy’s and writer of the upcoming musical, “Tabula Rasa.” “A lot of our work is very complex. Some of the kids may not get a lot of the meaning, but they are totally engaged.”
“Tabula Rasa,” which opens today and runs through Aug. 21, is an original musical interweaving three convergent storylines: the first a creative retelling of the Wild Boy of Averyon, a true story of a boy in 19th-century France assumed to have been raised by wolves; the second about a 21st-century autistic girl named Emily who is confined in a medicated state; and the third an incorporation of the classic “Hansel and Gretel” tale originally told by the Brothers Grimm.“It is really about what we do as a civilization to define normalcy and what we do to make people normal – however that is defined – such as prescribing medication,” explained Lawson.
( Read more... )