How this Australian actor with autism got the lead role in a US stage play

‘Art is fundamentally human, and it transcends genre and medium,’ says Russell. — Photos: Instagram/Daniel Patrick Russell

It's common for theatre 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 is playing the lead role of Christopher Boone in the California Centre for the Arts (CCAE) Theatricals’ San Diego premiere of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, in California, the United States.

Russell, who is in his 20s, arrived 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 neighbour’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.

'I've always loved arts in every form,' says Russell.

Russell, who is neurodivergent, came well-prepared to rehearsals because he can offer insights into Christopher that few other actors can. 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. We’re both incredibly passionate, determined and hyper-focused in the pursuit of our goals, and we’re both very creative, logical and honest,” Russell said.

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 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 on stage for virtually every scene in the two-hour play and has a lot of lines, physicality and dance movements – nobody proved right for the part.

Then Russell’s audition videos arrived from Paris.

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 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.

Russell (at the back, lifted on someone’s shoulders) was one of the Jets gang members in Spielberg’s West Side Story.

“When his tape came in, we were just blown away. 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,” Lapp said.

Born to perform

Russell grew up in Umina Beach in Sydney, in Australia’s New South Wales. His father was a tap dancer and his mother a ballerina, and together they offered classes through their own dance studio.

His parents also took him often to museums and performances, and they got him started in community theatre.

“I’ve always loved arts in every form. 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’.”

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 US.

When the tour ended, Russell and his father moved back 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 2019, Russell was cast as Little Moly, one of the Jets gang members in Spielberg’s West Side Story. Russell said one of the highlights of the filming, which was shot on location in Manhattan, New York 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.

“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.”

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 The Curious Incident, Russell is doing his first straight play production.

Asked whether he prefers theatre, 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.”

Gifted actor

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.

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

“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 also a story about difference, and everyone can see a little of themselves in Christopher.

“What’s great about this piece is the lack of stage directions and scenery called out in the script,” 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.”

'Because I'm neurodivergent, my brain has the ability to hyper-focus on projects to the point,' says Russell.To create this environment, Lapp said the CCAE team has 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.

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 colour 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.

“So much of what makes me the artist I am is because I’m neurodivergent, and not in spite of it. 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?” – Tribune News Service