Theatre production about Asperger’s Syndrome visits DSU on Oct. 17

Posted on Tuesday, October 9, 2012

“I always try to act normal but my normal isn’t normal.”

Dakota State University’s Office of Diversity brings Minneapolis’ Mixed Blood Theatre back to campus for the production of Theory of Mind. The program will take place in the Trojan Center Underground at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 17th with the public welcome. Thissensitive yet unsentimental story presents a portrait of a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Bill is a college-bound seventeen year-old, equipped with scholastic brilliance but low emotional intelligence; a keen self-awareness yet, an inability to read social cues, and a charming directness yet prone to taking everything he hears literally. His outing with a young woman becomes a memorable, insightful look at the tugs, shifts, and about-faces found on the autism spectrum.

Theory of Mind is written by Ken LaZebnik, a veteran Mixed Blood company member whose other writing credits include Touched by an Angel and the Mixed Blood-produced plays Calvinisms, League of Nations, Vestibular Sense, and On The Sprectrum, the latter two also autism-themed.

First toured by Mixed Blood in 2009, Theory of Mindagain features Skyler Nowinski as Bill in a cast that also includes Thallis Santesteban and Warren C. Bowles. The production is again staged by Mixed Blood Artistic Director Jack Reuler.

The show is one of many culturally-specific productions toured this season by Mixed Blood, a professional, multi-racial theatre company based in Minneapolis that promotes cultural pluralism and individual equality through artistic excellence. The other touring productions include the Martin Luther King biography Dr. King’s Dream; Daughters of Africa, a music-driven history of African American women; and African America, a look at the modern African diaspora in Minnesota. Theory of Mind begins at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 17th in the Trojan Center Underground. The campus and community is invited to attend. This is a free event.

Information Provided By: www.dsu.edu/news