Character List – “Life On The Spectrum: A Love Story”

Meghan – Late 20’s, she is the catalyst for the creation of the play world. She is both outside the world, as interview/writer, and a part of the world, as the sibling of someone with Autism. Also plays the role of the game show host.

Woman 1 – Like the rest of the cast she wears all black. Plays the roles of Maria, Anne and Robyn.

Woman 2 – Plays the roles of Karin, Mary, Laurie and Linda.

Man 1 – Plays the roles of Rep. Sturla, James and Game Show Contestant.

Man 2 – Plays the roles of Speaker O’Brien and Kevin.

Character’s Identifying Prop or Costume Piece:

Meghan - wears business casual attire, hair back, glasses.

Game Show Host – Take hair down, no glasses.

Maria – business blazer, any color but black

Anne – Over-sized 1970’s style glasses

Robyn – Corn flower blue button down shirt, fitted

Karin – Man’s white oxford style shirt

Mary – Deep green sweat, loose fitting

Laurie – an apron with the top half left to hang around her hips

Linda - Carmel or similar colored duster length sweater

Rep. Stura – Thick red tie

James – Thin blue tie and black glasses

Game Show Contestant – Obnoxious Hawaiian or similarly styled shirt

Speaker O’Brien – Dark gray suit jacket and tie (not specific.)

Lights everywhere but stage right go to half. Stage right is brightly lit. Maria returns to her seat. Meghan and PA Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis O’Brien sit at the desk doing an interview.

Meghan

Speaker O’Brien, you’ve been one of the most visible advocates for Individuals with Autism in Pennsylvania for years now. Can you tell me a little about your role as an advocate and a lawmaker?

Speaker O’Brien

[Well,] most elected officials wander through their whole public service career looking for something that they can identify with. This was given to me on a silver platter [because of my nephew.] And my sister jokes and says, you know, someday you’re gonna thank me for asking you to be an advocate for Christopher and the others. If it weren’t for my advocacy, I wouldn’t be here right now. I mean that. But – uh -- I think it’s a challenge to public servants, people in policy making positions to recognize that, uh, if you’re running for public office, there are more families affected with Autism than there are any other demographic group that you want to look at. There aren’t that many cops, firefighters, teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, um, labor organizations. There’s no incidence that’s higher than Autism right now. And it used to be, um, the story that was told by victims of breast cancer, that you couldn’t not know someone who was a victim of breast cancer. Well, you can’t not know someone who has a family member who has Autism today. And it’s incumbent upon us to find out why that’s happening.

As a loop of  “Who Are You,” by The Who begins to play, lights go up on the entire playing area.

                        Who are you/ hu hu hu hu/ Who are you/ hu hu hu hu/

                        Who are you/ hu hu hu hu/ Who are you/ hu hu hu hu/

                        Oh tell me, who are you/ Uh uh uhhhh

Speaker O’Brien re- joins the rest of the cast. Meghan crosses center, while the cast circles around her, each wearing or carrying the appropriate props for the characters they will be portraying. The items can overlap, but they MUST be positioned so as to give the audience a distinct impression of who is speaking. The cast circles for a few moments with the music. The music stops dead and all four find their spots and face out to the audience.

Meghan

            What’s your name? Your occupation? Who are you?

The cast members display their character’s identifying prop or costume piece to the audience prominently as each of the characters are introduced.

Anne

            Anne. [I’m] a homemaker. I’m a mother.

Rep. Sturla

            Mike Sturla. I’m a State Legislator. I’m a father.

Karin

Karin. I am currently a loan officer. I’m a mother.

James

            James and I’m a Professor of Psychology. I’m a father

Robyn

            Robyn. [I’m a homemaker. And an Episcopalian Minister.] I’m a mother.

Maria

Maria. I work at my husband’s business. He’s a dentist. [I’m the office manager.] I’m a mother.

Kevin

            Kevin. A disability consultant for the Social Security Administration. I’m a father.

Mary

            Mary. I’m a Registered Nurse. I’m a mother.

Linda

            Linda. I’m a transcriptionist. I’m a mother.

 Laurie

            My name is Laurie. I work in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I’m a mother.

Lights shift to focus on Laurie. The rest of the cast returns to their seats.

Laurie takes a step closer to the audience.

Laurie

I work in the Department of Disabilities at the Archdiocese. When I see young families, and these families are in crisis, I just remember when I was a new parent of a child with Autism. You know, it was challenging for me. And my husband and I both had decent educations. We had some money. We had some [family] support. I had a phone. I spoke the language. I mean, I speak English. Some people don’t have that [And I always think] how stressful and difficult and challenging that must be.

Voice Over “We believe your child has Autism” in different languages begins to play at a quick pace. Laurie looks around, desperately confused. Finally, she gives up and sits down:

“Nous croyons que votre enfant a Autism. Je suis désolé.” (French)

“Creemos que su niño tiene Autism. Estoy apesadumbrado.” (Spanish)

“Мы полагаем, ваш ребенок в аутизм. Очень жаль.” (Russian)

James stands up.  James steps forward to the microphone center. He DOES NOT sit. He behaves almost as if he is giving a lecture to one of his classes instead.

James

You name it, [my son’s] had all kinds of things. Early on, shortly after the diagnosis, he was getting early intervention through the IU. And that’s just sort of standard, like its glorified daycare basically. Maybe it’s more now. Then we did the [ABA,] the Applied Behavior Analysis. It’s called the Loovas Program. We did that for a couple of years. That was intense, ‘cause we did it, uh, you know, an in-home program. Hired kids from – mostly from St. Joseph’s University – locally – And he was getting 40, 50 hours a week of therapist time plus pretty much every waking moment, you know. And what happened is, he did make gains. There’s no question that he made some significant gains and some of where he’s today, I think, it’s a result of having gone through that kind of intense program. However, the gains started off quick and then they got slower and slower and slower to the point that after a year and a half, he pretty much stopped making gains. We went on for several more months, pushing and pushing, thinking it was a plateau, maybe we could push through it. And he was getting more and more frustrated and, you know, he started acting out and everything. And so when we finally ended that program, it was – at the point, it was, uh, sort of like, okay. Now we can accept that this is where he’s gonna be.

Just then Woman 1 comes running across the stage in bunny ears, a vest and a pocket watch, which he checks. Karin runs after the rabbit. Chase music plays underscores. As Meghan, reading from her seat at the desk, begins to speak, the women “jump” down the rabbit hole and freeze in falling positions. Man 2 is seated stage left. He narrates.

Man 2

“She found herself falling down a very deep well. Down, down, down.”           

Meghan

When I first read Lewis Carroll’s description of Alice’s fall in to Wonderland. It was like, “he must have loved someone who was diagnosed with Autism,” because it’s such an accurate description of the process you go through while you’re just trying to get a diagnosis. You and your family falling, so slowly it’s like you’re drifting, into a strange new world. And with every new discovery, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘this can’t possibly get any weirder.’ I’m sure my parents must have been thinking, ‘Now, this can’t be right. My kid can’t really be in my neighbor’s front yard right now, naked except for a pair of rubber cleaning gloves.’ And, personally, I don’t think that a nude three year old climbing the neighbor’s hedges is any less unsettling than landing in a world where cats can speak to you and then disappear at will.

Lights up on Man 2 as Speaker Dennis O’Brien, sitting across the desk from Meghan. They are continuing their interview.

Meghan

Do you remember the day you were told that your nephew, Christopher, had been diagnosed with Autism?

Speaker O’Brien

Yep. Um, I drove up to my sister’s house. She was devastated. It was almost like someone had died. And there was nothing really that you could do except say that no matter what was to happen, we will be there for you.

Both rabbit and “Alice” become animated again on the word “died.” They crash land, then stand up and look around in a daze, before brushing themselves off. The men join them. The rabbit ears and vest are taken off and they along with the book are moved off stage. Meghan sits at her desk. Robyn begins to speak.

Robyn

There is a realization, uh – I often refer to it as “life on the spectrum,” and life on the spectrum means that you will probably lose most of the relationships that you understand. Most of your friends the way you understood it.

Linda

My sister gets it. She can step into my shoes anytime I – I step out of them. I really feel that way.

Karin

My mother does not acknowledge a lot of the Autism. [You know, “Caroline’s] fine.” It’s just me being too protective or looking for attention.

James

Outside of immediate family I’m not sure that I do [have anyone who really understands what it’s like.] But I’m not angry that other people don’t get it. How could they? They don’t live it.

Laurie

I think I’ve surrounded myself with people who get it. People that don’t get it I don’t have time for.

Kevin

By and large most of the people I feel comfortable with are other parents with Autistic kids. They’re the ones that seem to “get it.” You know, a lot of people realize you have a difficult situation and – but they just treat it as though it’s a one time thing, like a sick relative or something like that. The thing is, it doesn’t go away. It just stays there. In terms of finding our own voice, in trying to learn about what to expect – what’s gonna happen to Andrew – we basically discovered other parents. And finding out what other parents were doing was – very enlightening. Other parents are the very best resource for learning about this condition and the system you have to deal with and everything else. Learning about that is a type of therapy in itself.

The cast suddenly becomes a gaggle of schoolgirls, laughing and playing hopscotch. They isolate Karin, who tries to join in, and they snicker at her as they walk off to their seats. Karin stands alone for a moment before deciding to speak.

Karin

It’s been weighing on my mind [lately] – [My daughter’s] getting to that age where other kids are noticing. And I have friends who have girls that are typical girls, and I just hear about the… We’ll just say the nastiness of some of some of these girls and the clickiness and the, you know, if you play with her then I’m not talking to you, and I just – I feel like [Caroline] doesn’t yet have the tools to deal with that and I think she might be capable of having those tools. I just feel like I’m in a race to get there. She’s almost six now and she was just short of four [when she was diagnosed,] because we were on a waiting list at CHOP for an eternity. And my fear is that I’m gonna run out of time because of the stuff where I have to rely on private services. I’m constantly fighting insurance companies and I don’t make enough money to pay for anything. So if [I] can’t cover [something] my fear is that it’s always going to affect her whole life and those things will just keep her on the edge looking in.

Meghan

            What scares the rest of you?

                        Silence

            What about you, Anne? What really scares you?

Anne

Oh, God. That [my boys] not be situated somewhere.  You know what, there’s nobody that I can say that’s capable of caring for them [if I should die right now.] My brother loves them and, uh, it would make the most sense for him to care for them right here in their own home and stay here. But he couldn’t finagle his way around the system as far as getting anything – like if everything’s done for him, yeah. There’s somebody here to get them their meals and all. But there’s nobody that I can say that would step up to the plate and do it.

Meghan

            What scares you, Kevin?

Kevin

[For me] it’s on going. It – it revolves around Andrew, what’s gonna happen to him, not just when we die but even just a couple of years from now, what’s gonna happen.

Meghan

            What about you, Linda?

Linda

            Right now? Dying before I have Tim situated.

Lights shift, a spot comes up on Robyn and she begins to speak from her seat. She is free to move about and fill the space on the stage.

Meghan

            What about you Robyn? What are you afraid of?

Robyn

(Sighs). My other two kids.

As Robyn continues to speak, the spotlight comes up upstage on Woman 2 as Erica with a baby-doll under her arm, Man 1 as Steven and Man 3 as Kevin. Erica and Steven are trying to engage Kevin in hide-and-seek. Kevin is the seeker. He becomes frustrated when he can’t find either of them, flapping his hands. Erica comes out to help Kevin and he explodes. He flings her arms away from him and the baby-doll flies across the room.  Kevin and Erica look at each other wide-eyed. The spot goes down on the children abruptly.   

You know, the stresses around the lifestyle of living with someone who has – particularly, the high functioning form of Autism where everything can seem fine and perfectly normal in relationship to other kids that they experience and then there’s an explosion or there’s – and they don’t understand why he doesn’t communicate with them in the way that, umm, other kids might. And they’re the younger kids, so they’ve grown up with this [and we, the parents were] not understanding Kevin ourselves. And, therefore thinking “[he] won’t do this [or that], you won’t behave, you know, not that he [couldn’t.]  And the early years of yelling more than we should have, because -- you know -- “Hello, why are you not, you know, doing [what I told you to] – what’s happening here? I don’t understand. And [the younger kids] watching this, you know. And even though now we try to explain and make everything work. I – I think that’s a fear that I have. And of course, they’re still small. They’re still seven and six (chuckling) You know, I have years to help them work through this. But I’m just so aware of the long term – of how things happen when you’re a kid, and you see things you don’t understand and they get locked in you, you know, and you – and how they might affect the course of your life.

Robyn returns to stage left. Man 1 comes center as a game show contestant. He takes his seat on the stool center.  Meghan as Game Show Host pulls the microphone from its stand. She has note cards in her hand and prowls around the contestant.      

Host

            Standing next to the man, but directly addressing the audience.

Welcome everyone. This is your chance to test your knowledge and find out how much you really know about Autism Spectrum Disorder. Are you ready?

Man

            I am.

Host

All right. True or False: Children with Autism never make eye contact.

Man

            True.

                        Buzzer sounds

Meghan

Oh, I’m sorry. The correct answer is False. It may be different from that of a typical child, but many children with Autism nevertheless establish eye contact, make other efforts at non-verbal communication and even smile. Next question. True or False: Individuals with Autism do not talk.

Man

Umm… False. While some individuals with autism are unable to communicate verbally, many develop functional language.

Host

            Ding, ding, ding