Rick Woods will be starring as Daddy Warbucks when Annie opens next month at the Open Door Theater in Akton, Massachusetts. And Rick's 22-year-old autistic son Lee will be singing and dancing onstage with him, playing a butler:
“Lee loves musicals. He has the spotlight gene and loves the attention,” said Mr. Woods, who is no stranger to treading the boards locally. He has performed with the Stratton Players and Theater on the Mount, and has even taken a turn directing.
Starting Jan. 11, they will be onstage again in “Annie,” with a first-ever performance designed to be autism-friendly on Jan. 19.
“Autism-friendly performances have been successful on Broadway with 'The Lion King' and 'Mary Poppins.' They do many things, including keeping the lights on, and the audience being restricted to families with children with autism,” said Mr. Woods.
Rick and Lee performed together previously in Tom Sawyer and Fiddler on the Roof:
“By the third show, this one, he did not need me to shadow him anymore. There are caring people who take care of him. All of the children and people with special needs participate at the level that they can manage. We have a blind girl, one with Down syndrome, others with physical and developmental disabilities. And it's not just the cast — this includes the backstage crew,” said Mr. Woods.
There are children with special needs with “buddies.” And there are children with no special needs who are interacting with the children who have needs. Mr. Woods said it's sometimes like “herding cats” with so many people involved in the production.
“It's going to be a wonderful production with lots of talented people,” he added.
