VAPA A Curious Incident of a Dog at Nighttime
Tessa Kennedy (she/her)
On the crisp, cool evening of November 19, 2021, I made my way to the Los Angeles visual and performing arts high school VAPA to see a student theater performance of The Curious Incident of a Dog at Nighttime. This story is the play adaptation of the 2003 Mark Haddon novel of the same name;a fifteen year old boy named Christopher tries to find out who killed Wellington, his neighbor’s dog who he found stabbed with a garden fork. There isn’t much to say about the VAPA theater group’s execution of this show that doesn’t stray from one word: brilliant. The performances were heartfelt, genuine, and full of emotion, but were also able to keep from over-acting or making their delivery melodramatic.
While Chistopher, the protagonist, is a teen, all of the other characters in the play are adults. It was truly inspiring to see high school actors have the ability to display and articulate emotions of people who have had decades of life and issues and pain. From Chistopher’s loving but spread thin father, played by Kelly Bate, to the heartbroken and resentful neighbor, Ms. Shears, played by Sunny Hill, the entire cast of this play truly did their research and gave so much energy and hard work to their roles, shown through the emotion and beauty of the play.
Words fail to describe the impeccable performance put on by Lucas Acosta, the sophomore who played the main role of Christopher. He was able to bring to life this unforgettable character, especially in the way that he was such a raw and accurate representation of autism, but also empathetic, with a lack of mockery. (Take notes, Sia.) All of Christopers idiosyncrasies, such as how he says “doing sex” and his hatred of the colors brown and yellow are brilliantly portrayed through this actor, a force of nature. I’m excited to see what else he will do with such talent.
The use of props and lighting along with the set and costume design additionally tie into the emotions and themes of the plot, with every single decision having relevance to the scene. The lighting is a colossal part of the overall feel of the play, and the mostly-student stage crew did a fantastic job with this, bringing tension to potent scenes, as well as serenity to emotional moments. It should be mentioned that the entire cast performed wearing masks, and even with half their face covered in the name of health and safety they were able to bring dazzling levels of vehemence to their characters. So, from a Marshall student to the amazing cast and crew of VAPA’s The Curious Incident of a Dog at Nighttime, I would like to give much-deserved accolades. Thank you for putting on such a powerful performance despite the volatility of this year, and I for one cannot wait to see what else will be done with the surplus of talent from this group of students.
