Empathy and mystery: Actor finds connection with lead role in detective drama

It’s common for theater actors to show up on their first day of rehearsal with a few ideas about how they’d like to play the character they were hired to perform.

And then there’s Daniel Patrick Russell, who will play the lead role of Christopher Boone in CCAE Theatricals’ San Diego premiere of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” opening Friday in Escondido.

Russell arrived on day one in January with a 20,000-word document he’d filled with his thoughts and ideas about playing Christopher, a 15-year-old English boy who embarks on a solo journey one night to solve the murder of his neighbor’s dog and another mystery. Christopher is on the autism spectrum, and many scenes of the 2012 play are told from the perspective of how he sees and interacts with the world around him.

Nathaniel Madden, left, and Daniel Patrick Russell play father and son in rehearsals for CCAE Theatricals’ “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

(Courtsy of Holly Lapp)

Russell, who declines to give his age, came well-prepared to rehearsals because he can offer insights into Christopher that few other actors can. Russell is also neurodivergent, and he feels a true kinship with the character he’ll play.

“Christopher and I do share a lot of similarities in how our brains work,” Russell said. “It’s been a treat to explore these in rehearsal. We both have a strong sense of justice. We both love to learn. We’re both incredibly passionate, determined and hyper-focused in the pursuit of our goals, and we’re both very creative, logical and honest.”

CCAE Theatricals artistic director J. Scott Lapp, who is directing the play, said he was thrilled when Russell arrived with his book and a headful of ideas. When the Escondido-based theater company posted a casting notice for the play last year, it encouraged neurodivergent actors to apply.

Of the more than 6,000 submissions Lapp received for roles in the play, he narrowed down the finalists to about 10 actors. But because the role is so demanding — Christopher is onstage for virtually every scene in the two-hour play and has a lot of lines, physicality and dance movement — nobody proved right for the part. Then Russell’s audition videos arrived from Paris.

Allison Spratt Pearce as Siobhan, left, and Daniel Patrick Russell as Christopher rehearse a scene for CCAE Theatricals’ “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

(Courtesy of Holly Lapp)

At the time, Russell was playing Baby John in the international Broadway tour of “West Side Story,” and he heard through a friend about the CCAE casting call.

He decided to give it a shot from 5,600 miles away. He emailed his tapes, along with his eye-popping resume, which includes roles in both Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” film and the Broadway production of “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman.

“When his tape came in, we were just blown away,” Lapp said. “It was such a gift for us to be able to cast him. He’s an actor who identifies on the spectrum, and he has brought so much of his lived experience into the room.”

Born to perform

Russell grew up in Umina Beach, Australia, about an hour north of Sydney. His father was a tap dancer and his mother a ballerina, and together they offered classes through their own dance studio. Russell remembers from an early age going into the studio with his dad on Sundays to “jam” steps together. His parents also took him often to museums and performances, and they got him started in community theater.

“I’ve always loved arts in every form,” he said. “I’m lucky I grew up in a household where art was woven into my life from the beginning.”

Russell was around 10 years old when his parents took him to see the dance-heavy musical “Billy Elliot” in Sydney and a light went off in his head. “That was a real checkpoint moment of inspiration for me where I thought ‘that’s what I can do.’”

Director J. Scott Lapp, standing at center, leads a rehearsal for CCAE Theatricals’ “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

(Courtesy of Holly Lapp)

He was still two years too young to audition for the role of Billy, so — with his usual tireless dedication — Russell spent the next two years training for the part, which he landed shortly after his 12th birthday. Russell played the title role in the Australian national tour for the next two years. Then at 14, he was cast in the Broadway national tour of “Billy Elliot” and spent the next year touring the United States.

Russell’s father accompanied him on the tour, but it was still a challenging life at such a young age.

“It was a lot of responsibility and pressure,” he said. “But I would say that, overall, I thrived more in that environment than I did in the school system. So I never shied away from the pressure of it, so long as I was doing something I cared about.”

When the tour ended, Russell and his father moved home to Australia, and he enrolled in high school, an unhappy experience he described as “jarring moment” in his life. After he graduated, he began working again and has not stopped since. In fact, he works so often and in so many places around the world, he has no place to call home.

In 2019, Russell was cast as Little Moly, one of the Jets gang members in Spielberg’s “West Side Story” film. Russell said one of the highlights of the filming, which was shot on location in Manhattan, was when Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics for the 1957 musical, came to the set one day to talk about his experiences. The other was working with Spielberg himself, who Russell said walked around the set every day with a video camera to capture each moment.

Daniel Patrick Russell as Christopher in a rehearsal for CCAE Theatricals’ “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

(Courtesy of Holly Lapp)

“Spielberg is the consummate artist,” Russell said. “His passion for filming the world around him was contagious and inspiring. We planned the music and movement with a structure, but once we got on set, it was very spontaneous. He builds a team of people around him that he can work quickly and collaboratively with, and he was receptive to everyone’s ideas.”

Russell also spent 16 months as a swing and understudy in the Broadway production of “The Music Man,” which closed in January 2023. He described Jackman, who was the only other Aussie in the cast, as “a great conversationalist” who loved to chat backstage. Now, with “Curious Incident,” Russell is doing his first straight play production.

Asked whether he prefers theater, film or dance, Russell declines to choose.

“Art is fundamentally human, and it transcends genre and medium so I don’t tend to think in terms of ‘this is a straight play or a musical or a film.’ Each medium has its own strengths and elements to be considered. I find if you look more closely at any piece of art, a sculpture or a play or symphony, the more you realize they’re all doing the same thing — using the senses to tell a story that people can derive meaning from.”

‘Curious Incident’

English playwright Simon Stephens’ London-born 2012 play “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” was based on Mark Haddon’s 2003 novel of the same name. After it transferred to Broadway in 2015, it won the Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Drama League and Tony awards for best play.

The play was originally scheduled to make its local premiere at San Diego Repertory Theatre in 2022, but the theater permanently shut down before the production could be staged. CCAE Theatricals’ Lapp said as soon as he and the company’s managing producer Jordan Beck knew the local rights were available again, they snapped it up.

Like Russell, Lapp read the book many years ago and then saw the Broadway production in 2015.

Daniel Patrick Russell, bottom center, with the ensemble rehearses a scene from CCAE Theatricals’ “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

(Courtesy of Holly Lapp)

“I remember being overwhelmed with emotion and in awe of this transformational story,” Lapp said. “It’s a story of love and family and bravery in the most unlikely environments. It’s part mystery, part family drama and part adventure tale. It’s also a story about difference, and everyone can see a little of themselves in Christopher.”

Five years ago, Lapp directed a black-box production of the play in Michigan, but he is eager to tell the story on a bigger canvas at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

“What’s great about this piece is the lack of stage directions and scenery called out in the script. The staging can be blown open,” Lapp said.

Because Christopher lives in a world that’s very logical, and he struggles to understand people’s emotions and facial expressions, Lapp said the audience is put “inside Christopher’s head to see and feel what he experiences.”

To create this environment, Lapp said the CCAE team have created 20 music sequences, video and projections and there will be two live cameras onstage that Christopher uses as a video log of his detective investigation.

Because Christopher often wants to escape the noise and chaos of the world, he takes journeys in his mind — like a space walk — that the audience will be able to see. To expand the storytelling onstage, CCAE has hired choreographer Natalie Iscovich to create movement. Russell said he’s enjoyed working with Iscovich to create “a movement language that is playful, expressive and abstract within a heightened reality.”

Among the many ideas that Russell brought to the table are having Christopher wear ear defenders (noise-canceling headphones), a tool that Russell uses because of his sensitivity to sound. Russell also will demonstrate Christopher’s love for color block patterns by using his own skill at solving a Rubik’s Cube while performing a scene.

“Like Christopher, I’m very sensitive to sound and touch in particular. While it can be challenging at times I actually believe my auditory and tactile hyper-sensitivity makes me a better actor. The world around me affects me on a sensory level to be more spontaneous and reactive.

“So much of what makes me the artist I am is because I’m neurodivergent, and not in spite of it,” he said. “My brain has the ability to hyper-focus on projects to the point ... I can dive deeply into projects. And my detail-focused processing style allows me to study human behavior that can inform the way I work. How boring would art be if we all behaved the same way?”

CCAE Theatricals will be offering two sensory-friendly performances of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 and 2 p.m. March 2. These performances are open to all but will be designed to accommodate the needs of people with autism, as well as young children and first-time theater-goers. During these performances, loud noises and bright or flashing lights will be reduced; house lights will be partially illuminated to allow audience members the freedom to leave their seats; there will be a safe space in the lobby for those who need to leave the auditorium; and audience members can talk out loud.

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’

When: Preview performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Opens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and runs through March 3. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; plus 10 a.m. Feb. 22, 2 p.m. Feb. 24 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 and 29. (Sensory-friendly performances are at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 and 2 p.m. March 2)

Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido

Tickets: $35-$85

Phone: (800 ) 988-4253

Online: theatricals.org

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com