OT: Phila area Winter's Tale and Adam update

[Guest guest]

Tonight's (9/22/06) performance of " The Winter's Tale " has been cancelled

because one of the leading ladies was suddenly hospitalized. If any of

you are the praying sort, please pray for Kassel. Hopefully she will get

out of the hospital by the end of the weekend and the show will go on for

the remaining performances Monday-Friday, September 25-29, 2006. I thought

that anyone who was planning to attend would need to know. After writing

this email another castmate emailed that Kassel wasn't sure she'd get out

in time for tonight's performance, which tells me that, if there's a

possibility of getting out of the hospital in one day, it is very likely

that she will be out in time for Monday's performance.

My son Adam, who just turned 8, is playing Prince Mamillius in " The

Winter's Tale " by Shakespeare. It is his first speaking part and

first real play (i.e., not a school show) and he is the only child in the

production.

Opening Night (9/18/06): Adam is in the first scene, a Restoration

addition to the beginning of the play which you won't find in most editions

(Shakespeare's first scene is two guys talking, which is now the second

scene in this production). Adam pauses between two of his lines, and

rather than waiting for him to say his next line, one of the other

characters goes on with the next line, thus robbing him of the chance to

deliver one of his lines. The scene goes on to the end (there are only a

few more lines) but Adam is looking upset when he leaves the

stage. Offstage, he has a tantrum and demands to do the scene over. He is

very upset that the scene wasn't done right and that he won't win his

reward ( " gold coins " he can use toward earning a nonfood treat) although it

was not his fault that he did not get to deliver all of his lines. We

cannot go do the scene over and no comforting or assurances can keep him

from having a meltdown. He calms down a little and we take him onstage for

his second scene (third scene of the play) somewhat after his cue, but he

is too upset to act appropriately so we take him off. (We = myself and the

other Lady-In-Waiting). Then an actress whose first scene is in the second

half of the play takes him outside to get some fresh air, take his voice

out of earshot of the audience, and calm him down, as I am in the next two

scenes and she doesn't have a scene until after intermission. The King and

Queen are prepared to act around the Prince's absence in the next scene,

although it will be difficult since he is crucial to this scene (and it is

also where he has most of his lines). But fortunately Lady

returns with a composed Adam in time for his last scene, which he performs

well and he delivers all of his lines. It's unfortunate that he did not

compose himself in time to continue with the second scene, but I'm glad

that he did not quit but pulled himself together in time for his third

scene (fourth scene in the show), his most important scene.

At intermission the director says that it was the right decision to take

him offstage when he started " getting weird. "

Adam had been acting almost normal lately and had been passing for

normal/ADHD among those not in the know, so perhaps I got lulled into a

false sense of security about his autism/progress. I guess he still has a

long way to go.

Second Night (9/19/06): No mishaps or mistakes, Adam remembers and

delivers all of his lines, most of them loudly and toward the

audience. All is well.

Third Night (9/20/06): All is well except in his third scene Adam

discovers the antenna to the baby monitor onstage that is being used to

transmit what is going on onstage to the backstage area, and leans down and

shouts his lines directly into the antenna, thus doing his best to " say his

lines loud enough for the walkie-talkie to pick it up " ). Afterwards the

director says that it was the funniest thing she's ever seen in show business.

Fourth Night (9/21/06): All is well. Adam is particularly charming in the

second scene. Without being directed to do so, he goes over and hugs each

of his stage parents when he arrives onstage. In the third scene he pays

no undue attention to the antenna, but still tends to overshout his lines.

However, that is better than not saying them loudly enough. All in all,

another good night.

I certainly hope that there will be a fifth night, sixth night, etc. I

will keep Kassel in my prayers. If any of you are the praying sort, please

pray for her also.

mother of Adam (8.0. PDD-NOS, Lyme, asthma, egg allergy, SCD 7/06)