SPSCC’s play takes viewers inside the mind of an atypical teen to solve a mystery

There’s plenty to pique audiences’ curiosity in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” opening Friday at South Puget Sound Community College.

For starters, the Tony-winning play is a mystery, though not a conventional one. It follows 15-year-old Christopher (Nicholas Main), who’s great at math but stymied by human beings, on a quest to discover who killed a neighbor’s dog. Along the way, he uncovers other mysteries about his life and his family.

But even those familiar with the plot of the play, adapted from Mark Haddon’s critically acclaimed 2003 novel, are likely to be surprised.

“Incident” takes the audience inside Christopher’s mind, using light, sound and video to create an environment that reflects his atypical way of seeing the world and his love for video games. (The character is often described as having high-functioning autism, but the play never puts a label on it.)

“Christopher has this kind of mathematical and digital way of thinking that comes into the theater and into the sets and into the sounds,” said director Lauren Love, the community college’s drama professor.

“More than any mainstream theater production I know, it forces you to adopt, wholesale, the point of view of someone with whom you may initially feel you have little in common,” The New York Times’ Ben Brantley wrote in a 2014 review of the Broadway production.

Love, who saw the show on Broadway, was excited by the opportunity to share Christopher’s point of view with local theatergoers.

“I was just so struck by how theater was used to express a complicated perspective that we don’t get to see too much,” said the director, whose last two projects — last November’s “Angels in America” and May’s “Fun Home” — drew both enthusiastic audiences and critical praise.

The focus on the workings of the protagonist’s mind shapes not only the technical aspects of the show but also the acting. “The things that come forward to him get the focus,” Love said. “Sometimes, something about a person will come forward to him, and so that gets translated into the acting.”

In other words, the cast — a mix of students and such well-known local actors as Shannon Agostinelli, Jesse Morrow and Tom Sanders — are playing not people but Christopher’s conceptions of them. The actors also are called upon to play animals and even inanimate objects.

All of that gives the show a dose of magic realism, critics have observed. It’s this world and yet not this world the way many of us experience it.

“Christopher has a unique perspective,” Love said. “It makes you reflect about the details you might miss in your day-to-day life and in the people around you.

“It made me think about how precious the simplest things in my life are, how wondrous the world is, and the way that science opens a window to that.”

Main, recently seen in Harlequin Productions’ “Man of La Mancha” and “Love and Information,” said he approached the role through the rules Christopher follows — rules he’s learned, such as “Don’t talk to strangers,” and rules he’s created for himself, such as “Avoid being touched” — and through the patterns he uses to make sense of the world.

“One of his personal rules is ‘Things happen in patterns,’ ” Main told The Olympian. “If he sees four red cars in a row, he knows it’s going to be a good day.”

Main, an Olympia native who moved back here two years ago after earning a theater degree at Central Washington University, said he was attracted by the challenges of the role and by the opportunity to work with Love.

“Last year, I did ‘Angels in America,’ and I just had an incredible experience working with her,” he said. “The kind of work she’s putting out into this community really inspires me, and I wanted to be part of whatever she’s doing next.”

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’

• What: The South Puget Sound Community College Theatre Collective presents Simon Stephens’ Tony-winning adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling mystery novel about a 15-year-old who’s great at math but has difficulties relating to human beings.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15, 16, 22 and 23 and 2 p.m. Nov. 17 and 24
• Where: The Minnaert Center for the Arts at SPSCC, 2011 Mottman Road SW, Olympia
• Tickets: $11-$16, with SPSCC students, staff and faculty admitted free
• More information: 360-753-8586, washingtoncenter.org

This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 6:00 AM.