VHS drama department presents “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
On July 8, the VHS drama department announced their fall play and spring musical for the 2025-26 school year in an Instagram post. The choices of plays and musicals were narrowed down over the course of eight social media posts.
Drama teacher and director of the play, Arden Smith, said, “I really want to portray stories and give our community stories that include representation of various groups that don’t get a lot of representation. [‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’] spoke to me because it was a really big acting challenge and I knew I had students this year that were really really interested in challenging their acting skills.”
The fall play that was chosen was “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” The play, by Simon Stephens, is based on the 2003 mystery fiction novel by Mark Haddon. The story follows 15-year-old Christopher Boone who solves the mystery of his neighbor’s poodle, Wellington, who was killed with a pitchfork. During his investigation, he discovers the truth about his family. The play won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2015. While not explicitly said in the book, Christopher expresses traits that are linked with autism including but not limited to sensory overload, hyperfixation and stimming. This has led to praises and criticism regarding autism representation.
Hudson Ham ‘26, who plays Ed, Christopher’s father, said, “I feel like I can relate the character a lot to things that I’ve experienced in my personal life so it was very easy to draw examples of people I’ve met and put that into character.”
Auditions were held Aug. 26 and callbacks were the following day. 13 students were chosen for the cast and 11 were chosen as the tech crew members. The cast also included a dog, McCovey West, playing Sandy and a stuffed animal, Patricia Oberele, playing Toby the Rat. The creative team consisted of seven members including the director. Rehearsals ran from 5:30-8:30 p.m., Mon. through Fri.
Jagger Smith ‘26, who plays Christopher, said, “[The play] definitely opened up a bit of a gateway because I didn’t really understand all forms of autism and I thought that it was kind of one-dimensional. I was very wrong.”
The show, sponsored by the McConnell Separate Property Trust, was held Oct. 9-11 and 16-18 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 12 and 19 at 2 p.m. in the little theatre. Entry prices were $14 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for children and students. A QR code of the digital program was provided. Viewer discretion was advised for children under the age of 10.
On Oct. 18, the drama department posted an Instagram story that said the show that day was cancelled. The next day, an Instagram post was made announcing the cancellation of the Oct. 19 show as well and would look at possible dates to reschedule. For those who would like their ticket refunded, they may contact Arden Smith.
In a later Instagram post on Nov. 5, the department announced that they rescheduled the show for Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. and would honor Oct. 18 and 19 ticket purchases.
