It's rare for non-musical plays to get major national tours. But The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is no run-of-the-mill play.
Based on Mark Haddon's best-selling 2003 novel, The Curious Incident... makes its Chicago touring debut at the Oriental Theatre after winning with a bevy of major theater awards. It won five Tony Awards in 2015, but also a record-breaking seven Olivier Awards following its 2012 debut at London's National Theatre ( only Matilda The Musical has matched that tally ).
Haddon once felt his novel was averse to adaptation, but playwright Simon Stephens ( long a favorite of Chicago's Steep Theatre ) and War Horse co-director Marianne Elliott both cracked the code. They found a way into the novel's very internal narrative of British teenager Christopher Boone
Though Haddon and Stephens never disclose Christopher's exact condition, the math whiz displays behavior that many doctors would diagnose as autistic. Initially Christopher tries to solve the mystery of discovering the person who killed his neighbor's dog with a pitchfork, but then his investigations uncover even more disturbing personal clues.
One ingenious aspect of Elliott's high-tech staging is to visually depict what might be going on within Christopher's head. Though the set may look like a simple geometric grid, it gets filled with a dazzling array of lighting and projection effects that are simply breathtaking.
Alex Sharp won a Best Actor Tony Award for playing Christopher on Broadway, and his fellow recent Julliard Drama graduate Adam Langdon now takes on the role on the road. Playing Christopher is so physically taxing that Langdon just does five shows a week, while Benjamin Wheelwright goes on as the alternate for three performances. Both actors also wait backstage for each other in case someone has to go on mid-show due to injuries.
"Every single Christopher that has ever performed has been incredibly different, so my and Ben's Christopher are polar opposites," Langdon said. "His Christopher has been in him for a long time since he did it on Broadway, so you will get your own Christopher when you see it."
Langdon said just a couple of technologically wowing stage effects seen in The Curious Incident... in London and on Broadway have been simplified for the tour, which just launched last month. But Langdon promises that the play's gripping story and its important messages still shine through.
"One of the main messages of the play is that difference is something that should be celebrated," Langdon said. "And to see a boy and his parents and his teacher go through this journey of handling his difference and in this very specific way, it sends out a good message. And in this day and age with everything that has been happening in the world, difference is something that should never be hidden and should always be accepted."
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time continues through Saturday, Dec. 24, at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. Tickets are $22-$95; call 800-775-2000 or visit BroadwayInChicago.com .
Diversely positive
Queer, Ill + Okay is back for its fourth iteration. The annual show is a multidisciplinary performance piece featuring performance artists who are HIV-positive or dealing with chronic illnesses.
Queer, Ill + Okay was created by Chicago-based producer Joe Varisco following his own HIV-positive diagnosis four years ago. Varisco was dismayed at the lack of narratives and art that matched his and his friends' situations, so he created Queer, Ill + Okay.
"What I normally do in those situations when I find that there's an absence in a voice that I'm looking for, where I'm trying to understand more of an experience that reflects something more directly to the world I know, I turn to my community," said Varisco. "Tell me your story. What does it mean to be positive today? Or live with a chronic illness as a trans individual, as a black or brown individual, as someone who is differently abled? And that is where the idea came for the first show."
Assembling artists together comes naturally to Varisco as a co-curator at Salonathon and the resident curator of Poonie's Cabaret at Links Hall. Varisco also recently took on the role of program coordinator of the new exhibit Art AIDS America Chicago at Alphawood Foundation.
For this year's Queer, Ill + Okay, Varisco teamed up with Oracle Productions which is dedicated to offering free public access theatre. The show also prominently features 14 diverse artists from around the county alternating in performances so no two performance lineups are the same.
"The entire production, from the artists that are involved to the designers to the venue to the lighting and tech operations to marketing are all pulled from the queer community who are in some way connected or invested in the same kind of mission that Queer, Ill + Okay has," Varisco said. Since the show is free, "we're trying to create accessibility to as many populations around the city as we can."
Queer, Ill + Okay plays four performances only at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9, 10, 16 and 17, at Oracle Productions, 1802 W. Berenice Ave. The featured performers are avery r. young, Angel Katz, Bea Cordelia, Dev_n and SK Kerastas, Dirty Grits and Vasilios Papapitsios, Emma Alamo, JuJu Minxx, Kay Ulanday Barrett, Lindsey Lee, Lucas Baisch, Michelle Zacarias, Morgan McNaught, Phillip Lambert X Blaknbrilliant and Tim'm West.
Tickets are free, but advance reservations are recommended. For an exact roster of artists featured at each performance and to reserve tickets, visit PublicAccessTheatre.org .
