KSC’s theater and dance department is one week away from its second production of the semester, “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.”
The play follows 15-year-old Chrstopher, who is autistic and determined to solve the murder of his neighbor’s poodle, Wellington. The show is an adaptation of the novel, “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” by Mark Haddon.
“It is an exploration of family, parenting, and the difference through which we navigate the world,” said director Hallie Flower.
“When I read the book I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve really felt like I was getting inside Christopher’s way of viewing human interaction,’” Flower said. “… We take for granted the figures of speech we use and how we communicate, verbal or nonverbal, [and we] go on a ride with a character who experiences all of those slightly out of the box, [it] is very powerful.”
Junior Lydia Wright, who plays Siobhan, Christopher’s teacher, said she had to do a lot of character work throughout the rehearsals.
“We have had a lot of time to get to know our characters and who our characters are to us and to each other,” Wright said.
Wright described Siobhan as a mother figure for Christopher.
“She takes care of him in school and throughout the play itself, she takes care of him in his own head as a mirage type, she guides him through a lot of his journey,” Wright said. “She’s a big role model for Christopher.”
Wright said that she sees a piece of herself within her character.
“Siobhan, for me, is a really special character because this is what I want to do after I graduate; I want to help kids with special needs and I want to use my theater major to help them get through life and get through their days,” Wright said. “A lot of what I’ve been trying to do is take in what I have done in my teachings… and incorporate that into my scenes themselves.”
Stage manager CJ Hagen said being the main line of communication between the cast and crew has been time consuming. As stage manager, he said he is responsible for booking rehearsal spaces, streamlining communication between cast and crew, and more.
Hagen added that this production is his first time stage managing.
“I got the call from Craig Lindsay, technical director, and he said he needed a stage manager and I more or less said, ‘Oh what the hell!’ And I did it,” Hagen said.
Hagen said he wants to focus on fusing together the technical elements as perfectly as he can as tech week approaches.
“[I’ll be] looking for things we might have missed and getting myself ready to have a cohesive show between all technical elements,” Hagen said. “I gotta spend a lot of time making sure I know where all the light cues are and where all the sound cues are… making sure that all my actors are comfortable with everything that’s going on.”
Flower said that the cast and crew are working hard to ensure the production is the best it can be.
“I’m really moved by how the department really centers student learning [such as] student stage managers and the way the whole technical process works and the sense of ownership and the impact of individual voice from the student [perspective],” Flower said. “… We’re about to enter the tech week process and we’ll be ready for it.”
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
