By Jade Ruggieri
As the cast sits in a semicircle around Jerry McGonigle under the bright stage lighting, they attentively listen to the director’s feedback about their run-through from earlier.
“Make sure you’re peeing on your fire hydrant,” said McGonigle, director of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”
The fire hydrant he is referring to means “to make sure you’re hitting your mark.”
Premiering for one weekend only June 10-12, West Virginia Public Theatre’s first summer production in two years, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” will be held in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre at the Canady Creative Arts Center.
Critically appraised, “The Curious Incident …” focuses on protagonist Christopher, a 15-year-old boy on the autism spectrum, who is determined to solve the mystery of who killed his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, seven minutes after midnight.
Social interactions and physical touch can overwhelm him, but he is a gifted mathematician and writer. Through written journal entries read by his teacher, the audience learns about Christopher’s journey as he overcomes new challenges.
Showcasing the theme of family, this play is much needed coming out of the pandemic, McGonigle said.
“This story is a great, life-affirming story. Everyone can be unified by this story,” McGonigle said. “It’s not about wars or climate change, but at the same time it’s real and going to make people feel good about being a human being, about being in the world, about taking care of other people.”
McGonigle feels his prime responsibility as a director is to ensure the authenticity of Christopher, as he wants to stay truthful to the human the story creates in a thoughtful, respectful way, so he partnered with the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.
Krestin Radonovich, Director of Neuropsychology at the WVU Medicine Children’s Neurodevelopmental Center, assisted the cast during production to ensure Christopher is not a caricature of an individual on the spectrum, instead focuses on Christopher’s feelings as the driving force and then the behavioral reactions.
“The challenge in telling this story is that sometimes people can get more caught up in the label and what a person with autism should look like or what they would be doing,” Radonovich said. “In my work with the actors and director we’ve talked about being mindful of that and not going overboard with some of the mannerisms or interaction styles.”
Leading the cast as Christopher, recent Penn State graduate and New York native Noah Silverman had the opportunity to perform the role in college and saw the Broadway production in 2015. With his familiarity with the show, and McGonigle’s guidance, Silverman said he can dig deep and portray the deeper meaning of the story in a fresh way.
“I’ve been excited to work on the calmness, stability, creativity and incredibly intelligent part of Christopher,” Silverman said. “As actors, we want to do the deepest work and destroy the audience, but in this work, that’s not the purpose. There’s so much beauty in the simplicity and I want that to show.”
As someone who is neurodiverse, Silverman said it has impacted how he sees the world, so he can relate to Christopher in some regard.
“This story shows us to go into the brain of someone whom people might not have a similar way of thinking,” Silverman said. “It allows people to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and encourages empathy and compassion.”
For veteran television actor Raymond McAnally — who has appeared in such shows as “Black Mirror,” “Better Call Saul,” Modern Family” and “30 Rock” and plays Christopher’s dad Ed in the play — theater is a return to everything he loves about live performance.
Originally from Tennessee, McAnally understands the importance of representing the arts in rural states, especially in Appalachia.
At 13 years old, McAnally saw the play “Shadowland” from a small theater company. Two actors from the show inspired him to try acting. He coincidentally ended up attending the same graduate school as those actors.
“Someone can come to see this show and not only get the service of a message, but the show can also inspire a child to become an actor like me,” McAnally said.
“One of the reasons this story needs to be told is it shows the whole family, the complete package,” McAnally added. “As a culture, we’re becoming more aware of autism and spectrum disorders, but I don’t see a lot of this level of honesty. The story centers around a single parent who, for two years or more, tries to raise a child with this special circumstance by himself.”
Show tickets for “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” are available on the website Eventbrite. For links to tickets and more information on all things happening at West Virginia Public Theatre, visit wvpublictheatre.org.
After all the hard work, McGonigle is excited about WVPT’s summer show return debut.
“If societies had souls, theater can be like a soul; it’s about what it is to be human. The communal need to examine stories that are relevant to society – that need, that drive,” McGonigle said. “I’m just really happy to be able to be that and to provide that — that soul tending.”
