Florissant Performing Arts Center Presents
Hawthorne Player’s 75th Anniversary Finale

         by Pat Lindsey

The Hawthorne Players is currently presenting its final main show of its 75th season with the award-winning play, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” It’s an excellent choice to showcase the recently renamed Florissant Performing Arts Center’s new technological capabilities for special effects. It’s also the perfect show to launch Dan Wolfe’s promising acting career.

Dan Wolfe plays the lead character, Christopher, a 15-year-old boy who describes himself as “a mathematician with some behavioral difficulties.” He is somewhere in the “autism spectrum,” which includes Asperger syndrome (a social interaction disorder), high functioning autism, and savant syndrome. The play by Simon Stephens is based on the book written by Mark Haddon, who is the real-life Christopher. Dan Wolfe might have born to play the role of Christopher.

The story begins in Swindon, England when Christopher finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, dead in the garden. Someone has killed him with a garden pitch-fork. Mrs. Shears (Jessica Kelly), the dog’s owner, calls the police and accuses Christopher of murdering her dog. When Christopher is found innocent, he decides to turn detective and systematically records his findings in a book he calls “a murder mystery novel.” His father Ed (Mike DePope) adamantly insists that Christopher mind his own business, but Christopher continues on his mission to find out who killed Wellington.

As the plot thickens, the audience experiences sensory overload with special video effects projected on a screen on the back of the stage that give us a glimpse of what it might be like to be inside Christopher’s brain. Kudos to Eric Wennlund for outstanding lighting design and Jacob Baxley for sound design and composing. Their use of words, calculations, colored lasers sory nd sound make Wolfe’s performance of Christopher even more riveting. The calculated choreography by Assistant Director Stefanie Kluba often symbolizes Christopher’s brain patterns.

The story unfolds as Siobhan (Natalee Damron), Christopher’s teacher and mentor, reads Christopher’s murder mystery to the audience. Shortly after the dog named Wellington is found dead, Christopher’s father (DePope) tells him that his mother has died. Christopher’s lonely world now becomes more isolating and his only companion is his pet rat, Toby. His father becomes increasingly agitated and depressed and displays the effects of trying to raise a teenager with autism by himself. During one of his rages, he takes Christopher’s murder mystery book and hides it in a box under his bed.

Christopher is determined to finish his mystery and eventually finds his book under his father’s bed. But that’s not all he finds in the box. He finds dozens of unopened letters from his mother that were postmarked in London. He reads them and discovers that his mother is still very much alive and that he can no longer trust his father. Somehow he has to find a way to London to live with his mother. And another adventure begins.

Several supporting actors interact with Christopher on his journey to London and none of them is particularly kind to him. They all play multiple roles with British accents, as well as inanimate objects and animals, a feat accomplished only by a phenomenal cast. These talented actors are Jessica Kelly, Jeff Kargus, Hunter Frederick, Patrick Brueggen, Elle Harlow, and Marian Holtz. Their dialect coaches are Robert Ashton and Gwynneth Rausch.

Christopher’s mother, Judy (Jennelle Gilreath Owens) is shocked and surprised to see her son at her door in London. She can’t believe that he was able to make the trip by himself. Owens does a beautiful job of displaying the range of emotions a mother goes through when she is unable to hug her child and feel returned affection from him. She also has to admit that she abandoned her child to live with her lover, Mr. Shears, who was her former neighbor in Swindon. Somehow, she has to create a new life for herself and her son. The story continues until a satisfying ending is reached.

Seeing “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” does not make for a casual evening of entertainment. It is intense and will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. But it is a true story that will captivate you as you realize what life must be like for someone who considers himself to be an “outsider.” The success of this show lies on the shoulders of Dan Wolfe (Christopher) who brings the story to life in an incredible way. Congratulations, Director Ken Clark, for a job well done.

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is being performed at the Florissant Performing Arts Center (formerly Florissant Civic Center Theatre) Nov. 4-13. For tickets, call 314-921-5678 or go to www.florissantmo.com. .

Christopher (Dan Wolfe) listens to his teacher, Siobhan (Natalee Damron), while his mother,

Judy (Jennelle Gilreath Owens), watches.in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

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