It is currently tech week for Eastern’s fall play, and everyone in the theater club is hard at work making the show the best it can be.  The fall play this year is A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime- a stage adaptation of the classic mystery novel by Mark Haddon. The performances will be November 3rd and 4th at 7:00 pm as well as November 5th at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

  The play is about a neurodivergent teenage boy named Christopher (Willow Mignone) who discovers the death of his neighbor’s (Ava Connelly) dog and makes it his mission to find out who killed him. His father, Ed (Andrew Rickey), warns him not to continue his investigation out of fear that Christopher will dig up secrets from the past and get himself into trouble. 

  Despite his father’s warning, Christopher continues his search and documents it in a book for his favorite teacher, Siobhan (Evangelina Cona). He ends up solving the crime while also uncovering information about his mother (Rachel Squire) and learning more about the world around him.  

  The play’s set is primarily made up of moving boxes and benches as well as projections on the back curtain.  Without a defined set, the show was not an easy one to block. However the play’s director, Dr. Gregg Molotsky, accepted the challenge and put the show together incredibly and made it flow smoothly.  

  This unique set meant that Eastern’s outstanding tech crew would have to learn how to work under new conditions. Zuzu Long, stage manager this year and last year as well as assistant stage manager for the 2021 spring musical, stated, “It’s very different. It’s less of a show with a direct storyline. It jumps around a lot which was hard to do with all the projections and lighting cues and everything. It was fun and interesting to work around if not difficult at times.” 

  Zuzu and the assistant stage manager, Jenna Slater, keep the show moving and there wouldn’t be a show without them. They have handled all the props for the show and their hard work has paid off immensely.  

  The show also has very few black outs and the ensemble stays on stage the whole show. This presented new challenges for the sounds and light crew to overcome.  Sound and light co-president, Clarissa Weaver, claims, “This was one of the hardest shows for me.  One of my biggest challenges has been recruiting people and training people.” 

  Weaver and her fellow co-president, Julian Carruolo, have more than doubled the size of the sound and light department during their time as co-presidents and are doing a fantastic job with this show as well as running the club in general. All tech crew departments worked tirelessly and their hard work does not go unappreciated by the cast.   

  Opening Night of A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a lot earlier than fall play opening nights have been in the past. Because of this, the actors had to learn their lines a lot quicker than unusual and worked extra hard to get the show to run fluidly. 

 Cast member, Monica Pham, observes, “The people who are leads worked very hard because they had a lot of lines to remember and we only had three weeks to fully rehearse it and put it into a show.” 

  The most challenging is the role of Christopher Boone, played in Eastern’s production by Willow Mignone. Willow has at least triple the lines of any of her fellow leads and cast members, but she has them down and portrays her character fantastically. This show means a lot to her and she can’t wait to perform it for an audience. 

  She states, “It’s something I’m really glad I get to play the lead in because it’s something that means a lot to me and my best friends.” When asked how she felt the play handles the subject of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Willow responded, “I think that it does what it can, but I think that it lacks the diversity of it. It shows a specific thing that is often shown in media about Autism Spectrum Disorder and it’s the same type of character that’s always presented. However, I think it does that very well.” 

  Along with the leads, the ensemble has a lot to do during this show and has a lot of blocking to remember.  A member of the ensemble and featured cast, Domenic Giampetro, notes, “I feel like the biggest thing about this show is that the entire cast is always on the stage the entire time and that kind of changes the dynamic and how we attack the show.  In other shows, we were able to get off stage and recuperate, but in this show we’re always a part of it so there’s never a dull moment in this show.” 

  The ensemble this year is truly a talented group of people and makes the play more exciting. This year’s play includes a promising freshman class. Freshman, Vincent Pietropola, says his favorite part of being a part Eastern’s fall show was “making friends with the upperclassmen and meeting everyone, and I’m sure to do this next year.” It’s relieving to get a talented group of freshmen who will continue to strengthen Eastern Theater.

  All things considered, Eastern’s production of A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is worth going to check out. Tickets can be purchased at eccrsd.booktix.com. Member of the cast, Zoey Blackman, describes the show as “abstract, unique, and thought-provoking.” I couldn’t describe it any better than that. The show is full of mystery and heart, and you won’t regret seeing it.