First and Foremost I am a Late Diagnosed Autistic Person with ADHD!!!!!! I am also now at 53, unmasked , and persuing a Masters in Dramaturgy at Leeds Conservatoire with my friends Scott Harrison, Aaron Newland Bentley, and Candice Song.
BTW You DO NOT need to be diagnosed to know you are on the spectrum! IYKY definitely K.
This is an invisible disability -that even I couldn’t see- that always put me 2 steps ahead and 2 steps behind everyone. Because of that, in 2004 I was encouraged to walk away from performing. I did, and I created Rock The Audition in response to this ask. Very much in the spirit of the houses we know of in Ball Culture, I created a real house of inclusion in Musical Theatre that I also belonged in, as I spent my entire 30 year career in theatre in therapy trying to not be considered "problematic" in a supremecist system. In 2011, after I published the first edition of my book with Hal Leonard, I quickly realized we were going to need to change and grow with the times. So I walked away with my IP, and built the very first On Demand Program in Musical Theatre on ZOOM in 2015. Along with my transposable audition cuts on Musicnotes, ( 2017) I also self- published a revised second edition in 2020 that was taken to task for racist content, and met the moment with love, non-defensiveness, and long term change. I understand myself not to be a problem, but a joyous, just, transparent savant-style problem solver with a special interest in nuance, who simply needed to learn how to regulate their own nervous system to be right where everyone else is. Now that we all have to self-regulate, I offer you this 22 year legacy and invite my peers in the industry to greet me moving forward an Autistic Actor and Collaborator! AuDHD to be exact. I am thrilled to collaborate with my British counterparts and return to my first love- acting! We deserve to fully realize our relationship. I move my love of doing shadow work, telling the truth, and being accountable- all typical Autism Spectrum qualities- towards dramaturgical work in new musicals and revivals! I would be an excellent consultant and coach on movie musicals as well!
SOME OF OUR PARTNER INSTITUTIONS INCLUDE:
