In the midst of the divas, in the clouds of hairspray, within the crowds of students murmuring lines to themselves, senior Austin Morrison plans to make his big debut as Eddie Miller in Drama teacher Bernie DeLeo’s original play, “Nerdicus: My Bother With Autism.”
The role of Eddie, an autistic teenager based on DeLeo’s own son, was given to Morrison because of his acting skills, ability to feel comfortable on stage and the shared developmental disorder of autism.
Because of this new approach, “Nerdicus” won First Place at the Northern Region Competition.
“I wrote the play and I knew I wanted to cast someone autistic,” the drama teacher said. “I really wanted [Morrison] to play the lead to show people the point of the play: that if you give a kid with autism a shot they can do it well; if we can get over the pre-conceived notion of ‘They couldn’t possibly do that. They are going to fail.’ ”
Other performers believe the casting for the character of Eddie to be absolutely perfect, as well.
“[Morrison] can capture the character’s [essence] because they are both on the Autism Spectrum,” junior Bonnie McClellan, who won Outstanding Performer at the state level for her performance as Rachel in “Nerdicus” said. “It would be very difficult for someone not on the spectrum to be able to fully represent that role, not only physically, but of [Eddie’s] mindset.”
Although Morrison and his character have Asperger’s, a high-functioning form of autism, they find themselves not fully thinking an idea through before speaking. In Morrison’s case, he uses this to his advantage, by making his fellow thespians laugh.
“[Morrison] will talk to anybody and he’s always cracking jokes, that’s kind of what he does most of the time,” junior Will Shipley, who plays Drew in the performance, said. “He makes these great jokes all the time.”
Along with a constant flow of friends’ laughs, Morrison loves to express himself on stage. Morrison has been taking theater classes since middle school and has been in every play since he came here his freshman year.
“[Theater] is really fun. You get to make the audience laugh, be someone you’re not and sometimes the people in my theater class just have too much fun,” Morrison said.
Despite the challenges of his disorder, and the struggles Morrison may face in the future, he dreams of attending college and majoring in Drama/Theater to become a theater teacher and/or an actor, and if he ever becomes famous he promises not to let his ego dominate his life.
“I don’t want my head to get too big,” Morrison said. “I want it to still fit through the door!”