The Who’s Tommy (Music and Lyrics by Pete Townshend, Book by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff) will run October 27 through November 20, 2016 at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre. After a five-year hiatus, Open Circle Theatre (OCT) bursts back onto the scene with this challenging piece based on the beloved rock opera of the 70’s. But if there is one thing OCT loves, it’s a challenge! Tommy uses driving rock rhythms to explore the story of a young boy traumatized by a violent act as he struggles through different stages of his recovery. With the show’s most recognizable song, Pinball Wizard stating, “This deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean Pinball.” OCT dives into the fray asking questions:
• How does violent crime victimization impact the disability community?
• What does it mean to be healed?
• How can a person deal with the extremes of villainy versus virtue that society applies to people with disabilities?
Part of OCT’s founding philosophy is that disability can enhance the artistic experience and inspire aesthetic innovation. Pete Townshend, the driving artistic voice behind The Who, uses Tommy’s status as “that deaf, dumb and blind boy” as a metaphor for the abuse of his childhood and his eventual struggle to find balance as a rock superstar. In this performance, audiences can explore with the artists on and off stage what happens when disability becomes more than a metaphor? What happens if, when Tommy turns around to speak for the first time, it’s in American Sign Language? #DeafTalent
The Who’s Tommy stars Russell Harvard (Broadway’s Spring Awakening, I Was Most Alive With You, Tribes, and television’s Fargo) as older Tommy, Will Hayes (The Man in the Iron Mask, Colossal, Camp David) as Tommy (in the mirror), Malcolm Lee as Captain Walker, Autumn Seavey Hicks as Mrs. Walker. Rounding out the principals are Mikey Cafarelli as Uncle Ernie, Carl Williams as Cousin Kevin, Maggie Walker as the Acid Queen and Molly Janiga as Sally Simpson.