When Tacoma Little Theatre Managing Artistic Director Chris Serface saw The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on Broadway several years ago, he was “blown away.”
So when director Suzy Willhoft came to him a few years later saying she’d like to direct that play in Tacoma, he was glad to say yes.
TLT will stage the play from Jan. 24 to Feb. 9. Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play, Lauren Love staged The Curious Incident in 2019, and now Serface and Willhoft are bringing it back to the South Puget Sound area.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is the story of Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old who is on the autism spectrum, though that term isn’t used in the play. The action begins with Christopher’s discovery of his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, who’s been killed with a garden fork. Because he’s a kid who is different, Christopher finds himself under suspicion. For this reason and others, he sets out to find the killer, even though his father, with whom he lives, is strongly opposed to his search.
That search involves a harrowing journey as he takes the train from his English village to London, though he’s never left his small town before. Along the way, he finds clues to mysteries beyond who killed Wellington. What happened to his mother, who he believes has been dead several years? Why is his father so opposed? How, when people you love turn out not to be who you thought they were, do you forgive them and go on?
While the play is specifically about one boy on the autism spectrum, it’s also about all of us, Willhoft said. “It’s about the journey we all take when we have to be brave,” she said, adding that, after seeing the play in London, “I fell in love with it.”
The play is also about family and parenting and, according to Willhoft, “how we reach out to the community and fail, and then we reach out again.”
What grabbed both Serface and Willhoft was the play’s unique approach to storytelling. Specifically, the play creates Christopher’s world of sensory overload by using movement, lights, set design and a chorus of voices.
While the TLT version follows the original production in some ways, it also has its own look and feel. “I was happy I’d seen it in 2015, but I didn’t feel interested in doing a cookie-cutter version,” Willhoft said. “We wanted to make it fit the TLT space.”
Toward that end, the TLT team “worked magic with lighting and projection,” Serface said. And Willhoft gives special credit to the production’s movement director, Brookelyne Peterson, who she describes as “extraordinary.”
The play’s 10 actors, none of whom have performed for TLT before, hail from Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma and Gig Harbor. Brad Alemao will play Christopher; Levin Kim is Siobhan; Mitchell Diehr is Ed; Michelle Patrick is Judy; Andrea Weston-Smart is Voice 1; Grant McGee is Voice 2; Evan Dyck is Voice 3; Ludovico Capponi is Voice 4; Alexandria Melville is Voice 5; and Shivani Ludwig is Voice 6.
Director Willhoft has been involved in theater in Tacoma for more than 30 years, first as an actor, then high school teacher, then director and founder of the theater company Found Space Productions. The last production she directed for TLT was Rabbit Hole in 2015.
She’s thrilled to be back.
“I love this play,” she said. “I’m excited to be working on it.”
The production is recommended for those 12 years old or older.
More than 100 years old, Tacoma Little Theatre offers not only a full season of plays but also “Off the Shelf,” a series of staged readings, along with an education program for preschoolers through adults. This season the main stage is mounting seven productions, ranging from December’s crowd-pleasing musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” to the surrealistic “Lorca in a Green Dress,” which is coming up in March.
And while the theater’s been around a long time, audience members can expect a comfortable experience. Successful fund-raising campaigns have allowed a series of renovations, including most recently, a renovated auditorium with new and improved layout and seating.
“We’re not the little theater of yesterday,” Serface said.”
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Photos courtesy of Dennis K Photography
What:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
When:
Jan. 24-Feb.9
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday,
Where:
Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N I Street, Tacoma
Cost:
$29 for adults; $27 for seniors/students/military; $22 for children 12 and younger.
Pay What You Can Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available online, in person or over the phone.
Learn More:
http://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/
253-272-2281