Actors look beyond disabilities in production

Come meet the boys next door.

But do not just see them as four young men who have mental disabilities, say cast members at Stevenson High School.

See them as friends and neighbors as they go through life with humor and pain, just like anyone else.

"If you break these people down, they're us," said cast member Alex Marzano. "They have the same feelings. They have the same hopes and dreams."

Stevenson High School will present "The Boys Next Door" at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3 and 4, in the school's Little Theatre. Tickets cost $5.

Sam Perl plays Lucien P. Smith, who has the rational thought and mental age of a 5-year-old.

"I think the most difficult thing was being a human being with a disability. It's not necessarily difficult to play a disability but making that a layer of the person and not making it the person in his entirety," he said.

Norman Bulansky, played by Noah Rawitz, has Down syndrome and likes Sheila, played by Stephanie Kerbis, who also has Down syndrome. Rawitz said Norman is aware he is disabled but wants to feel what he calls normal. He dreams of getting married, having children and giving them doughnuts, what he enjoys.

The group lives in a home for disabled people. Barry Klemper, played by Marzano, a schizophrenic who is "damaged" by his physically and verbally abusive father, is also a resident. Tyler Young plays Arnold Wiggins, the group ringleader who is a hyperactive, compulsive chatterer.

Keeping an eye over the boys is Jackie, played by Alanna Little. She feels helpless because she has to stop the chaos within the house but cannot overstep boundaries.

"You have to handle these people with care and compassion, but at the same time they drive you crazy," she said.

In addition to playing a friend and neighbor to the boys, Nadia Schmidt also portrays a severely mentally challenged woman who cannot express anything except through the word "no."

"How much struggle does she go through being not able to express herself?" she said.

Rounding out the cast is Ryan McDonough as Mr. Klemper and Amanda Bidstrup as Mrs. Hedges, Mrs. Corbin and Senator Clarke.

At times, characters step out of their illness. Perl said Lucien does not say much because he feels he does not have anything intelligent to say. But as he stands trial to determine whether he still is eligible for public funds, he goes into a monologue of self-reflection. In another moment, Sheila and Norman begin dancing slumped over. Then suddenly, the music changes and they dance as if they are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

"It is how they vision themselves, like any other man and woman in love dancing," Kerbis said.