A PLAY EXAMINES PARENTING A CHILD WITH AUTISM
If any of you have a child with autism, you might want to investigate this--it could give you some interesting insights:
" On Monday night around 10:30, producer Terry Schnuck managed to shush the crowd at the Knickerbocker, a stylish bar in an Edith Wharton-esque corner of old New York, long enough to revive a theatrical custom dating back to a time when newsprint was king: the reading of an early review.
Standing at his side in a flowing chiffon gown, playwright Deanna Jent seemed to hold her breath. She had not yet seen Rex Reed's review for the New York Observer. She didn't know what it said.
It was a rave.
Reed praised the actors, the direction, the lighting and the set. He said that Jent's play “Falling,” which had opened a few hours earlier off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, delivered a full complement of theatrical pleasure while telling a true-to-life story, about families coping with autism, that many people simply don't know.
More reviews would arrive in the hours and days ahead. Maybe they would be just as positive; maybe they would carp. But no matter what, they wouldn't change the fact that for Jent — and for several other theater artists who have been with “Falling” since its beginnings, in Clayton — Monday was a dream come true: a New York opening night.
A popular director on St. Louis stages who heads the theater department at Fontbonne University, Jent has written a number of plays, chiefly adaptations of novels by other writers. Most have been presented by Mustard Seed Theatre, the Fontbonne-based professional troupe where Jent is artistic director.
“Falling” started at Mustard Seed, too. But as soon as it premiered, in September 2011, it was clear that this show was something special. The story of a family under the relentless pressure of living with a severely disturbed autistic son in his late teens, Jent based “Falling” on her own life. Andy, the youngest of the Jents' three children, has autism.
It took Jent three weeks of steady practice to prepare her son for the extended separation the New York production would mean. Her daughter, Lindzey, began taking over daily routines; her husband Steve's parents spent more time with Andy, in preparation for the opening night when all the other Jents would be in New York, and they would stay with him.
The emotionally wrenching play gives audiences just a taste of life in a household where the smallest intrusion, such as the sound of a dog barking outside, can provoke complete upheaval, even violence. Jent didn't make that up; she knows whereof she writes.
But on Monday night, she caught a welcome break.
“Here I am in my fairy-princess gown,” she said, “and Terry Schnuck is my knight in shining armor.”
Scion of the grocery-store family, Schnuck decided a few years ago to “run away and join the circus,” as he puts it. Relaunching himself, he became a Tony-winning producer with credits that include “Clybourne Park,” “Spring Awakening” and the recent revival of “Porgy and Bess.”
But he still lives in St. Louis, where he chairs the Muny's board of directors. When “Falling” proved so popular last year that it had to be extended twice, Schnuck went to see it at Fontbonne.
He says he knew right away that it deserved a bigger audience. “I am fonder of this project than of anything I have ever worked on,” he said. “And (during previews) we had great audience response.”
Given the subject matter, that was a relief. Jent said that when she first told her daughter that some people wanted to take “Falling” to New York, Lindzey asked, “Do they know what it's about?”
Jent thinks that, for whatever reason, this is autism's “moment,” a time when people are willing to consider a difficult subject that used to be swept under the rug. But she hasn't pondered that too much; this week, she barely has time to change out of that gown and get back to everyday life.
Jent has to return to her campus, which will honor her for outstanding teaching later this week, and to her students. (She's been teaching by Skype.) She's about to start rehearsal for the next Mustard Seed play, her stage adaptation of Matt Mikalatos' book “Imaginary Jesus.”
Andy Jent would like her home, too. When she returned during a break in rehearsal, he kept urging her to put on pajamas. He may not communicate easily, but Jent thought that message was crystal clear. “You don't wear pajamas outside,” she explained. “He doesn't say 'I miss you' or 'I want you to stay.' But in pajamas, Mom doesn't leave home.”
Jent never intended “Falling” as a plea for sympathy, or a demand for better treatment, or some kind of well-intentioned “afterschool special” for grown-ups. It's simply a drama about the fears and dreams all parents live with, forced into high relief by a baffling syndrome.
“For a long time, all we had was Dustin Hoffman in 'Rain Man' and Leonardo DiCaprio in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?,'” she mused Saturday in the cramped Greenwich Village apartment that she and “Falling” director Lori Adams shared throughout the rehearsal period. “But there's something in the air now, a lot of interest in this subject. Other people seem willing to ride this ride. This is the time for our story.”

“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”---William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)