Find Me written by Amanda Scheirer has three more performances at Fringe Art Space. The rock musical spoke to me on so many levels. It opens with Ally, performed by Laura Swindoll waking up and straightening up her apartment in anticipation for the arrival of a guest. Autumn performed by Cat Cuteness arrives and she silently runs through the room looking at herself in the 8 different mirrors scattered throughout. In the talk back, Laura explained that Ally was constantly examining herself in the mirrors. She is someone who is always giving everything away to please others to the point where there is little left for herself, and she is deeply unhappy, distracting herself with activity.
Autumn who has autism on the other hand is a bright light who is unafraid to be herself. She never says a word through the entire play but her joy and sorrow are brilliant. She becomes frustrated when Ally can’t let go. The whole play is about these two very different woman finding a middle ground to become closer. When Autumn zones out and stares into space, Ally tries to get her attention through dance and humor. Only sitting and patiently waiting brought Autumn back.
Ally is incredibly organized, to the point of obsession. She organizes games, books and other items by a system where items that involve the eyes, like books are on a top shelf, things that involve the hands like games are on a middle shelf and things that involve feet, like a yoga mat are on a bottom shelf. Autumn prefers the joy of chaos.
Part of the reason I love this play so much is that I teach virtual drawing classes to children on the autism scale. The biggest challenge is always to find a way to engage the child and accept where they are on their artistic journey. At times I have had students who might start to rock and humm to themselves. I just keep sketching and talking to engage them until they are ready to try for themselves. I love that painting is one way Ally wants to engage with Autumn. The first attempt is an utter failure since Autumn just places the bottles of paint in a row. Ally wants to squeeze some color out but Autumn just pulls the bottles away and lines them in a row. I am thinking she was mocking Ally’s hyper organized self. Ally gets frustrated and puts all the paint away, angry at Autumn for not participating the way she wanted her to.
Much later in the play Autumn signs that she wants to paint. This time, the two women are gentle with each other and find joy in smearing paint on the tall canvas. Bright vibrant paintings start appearing over every mirror so that by the end of the play the otherwise dull neutral apartment is now filled with color. The stage manager, Lita LaRoux, did all the paintings that appear over all the mirrors. She explained that she listened to the music for the show the entire time she painted.
The play features music written by Dan Drnach. Party Farm is a jingle for a party store and Autumn plays it on TV relentlessly. She loves to dance to the jingle. I wanted to dance as well but held back. If there was a plant in the audience I bet the audience would rise and dance along.
I applaud Amanda Schreirer for this joyous and subtle show. I fell in love with these characters as they struggled to find each other. You never know the battles others are fighting.
I highly advise that you see this show. You will leave the theater deeply moved and reflecting on how delicate relationships can be.