When Mickey Rowe was in fourth grade, he auditioned as a stilt walker for the Seattle Opera. The opera house, looking for an adult to play the role, invited him to audition for their next show instead. He accepted.

His stage debut ignited a love affair with performing, which would become a passion and, eventually, a career.

Now 28, the Seattle-based actor has come a long way since his time at the Opera . Rowe plays Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with autism and the main character in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” which will open Wednesday and run through Nov. 12 at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex.

Portraying the world through Christopher’s eyes is a challenge Syracuse Stage artistic director Bob Hupp was eager to take on.

“He sees the world differently than a lot of us do,” he said. “So his take on the world, to me, is a new form of storytelling for theater.”

Rowe, like the character he plays, is on the autism spectrum. He is the first actor with autism to play Boone in any professional production of “The Curious Incident.”

“It was so amazing for so many reasons, so amazing,” Rowe said, regarding the moment he found out he’d been cast.

The play also marks a personal triumph for Rowe. The production is his first leading role in a major professional theater setting.

“Not only am I the first actor on the spectrum to play Christopher, but one of the first to play any autistic character,” Rowe said. “It’s so amazing to get to be that person. At the same time, it’s a little bit sad.”

Rower said people with autism are stereotyped because media portrayals of autism are not always accurate. Rowe’s casting is an exception, not the rule, considering most characters with autism are played by neurotypical actors.

“The Curious Incident” at Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex is just one step toward inclusion of those with autism but an important one to take, he said.

Rowe said he feels a responsibility every performance to not only put on the best show he can but to disclaim misconceptions about autism. His goal for “The Curious Incident” is to show audiences people on the spectrum should be hired because they can “get the job done and do amazing work.”

“I can’t even start to explain how many Facebook messages and emails I get everyday from people who are on the spectrum who are letting me know how much this means to them,” Rowe said.

Regarding the complexity of the character, Rowe said playing Christopher has been challenging. But, in some ways, he also regards him as the easiest role he’s ever gotten to play.

Katie Reahl | Contributing Photographer

Theater teachers told him he’d never be a successful actor if he didn’t get rid of the tension he carried in his hands. After four years of hard work, he trained himself to dispel that weight.

“When I play Christopher,” Rowe said, “I don’t have to think about it because I can let the tension back in. It’s me getting to be myself in a way that I normally wouldn’t get to be onstage.”

Syracuse Stage’s production of “The Curious Incident” is co-produced by Syracuse Stage and Indiana Repertory Theater.

“They wanted something for their first slot and we wanted something for our second slot,” Hupp said, adding that the timing worked out perfectly.

Risa Brainin, director of “The Curious Incident,” said co-producing the play has been a joy. Her goal for the show in both Indianapolis and Syracuse has been to make Christopher’s story accessible to the audience. By traveling “into his mind and heart,” Brainin said she hopes to give theatergoers the experience of stepping into the shoes of someone with a different perspective and situation.

Rowe also acknowledged the importance of empathizing with “the other” for audiences in today’s sociocultural climate.

“In our country right now, there’s a lot of fear about people who are different,” he said. “…I think that this play has the power to bring a lot of people together and remind people that our differences are our strengths.”

Despite the heavy themes and underlying political and cultural significance that can be derived from “The Curious Incident,” Brainin said she wants to make something clear: the play is not an educational seminar about autism. She hopes audiences, after watching the play, understand what someone who is different from them, whether they’re on the spectrum or not, might be feeling or thinking.

“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” Brainin said. “That’s why it’s called a spectrum.”

Published on October 24, 2017 at 11:28 pm

Contact Chloe: cfmathie@syr.edu