Theatre on the Spectrum

By Ben Weiss

How did you use your time in the Midwives?

I used my time as an opportunity to rekindle my love for theatre, explore my artistry, and find my own authenticity within my craft.

What is a discovery you made about yourself or your process?

I have a tendency as a person to perform or write in a way that pleases the most people possible, or in a way that meets the needs of people I'm performing for. But I've learned that my most successful performances are when I am my most authentic, and its when I let go of what others think about me that I am able to perform at my best.

Can you describe your piece / process for us?

This is an exert from an upcoming one person concert that I am putting together at Davenports Piano Bar and Cabaret. It details my experiences with being on the autism spectrum and how I used theatre as a way of discovering myself.

My name is Ben Weiss and I am an actor on the autism spectrum. When I was younger I always felt disconnected with my peers. I felt disconnected from pretty much everything. My mind worked extremely differently from everybody else. I didn’t know how to interact with others. And because I viewed the world differently I always felt like an outsider. I never truly felt like I fit in anywhere. At the time, pretty much every neurodivergent trait about me, my stimming, my auditory sensitivity, and my ramblings about obscure comic book facts were always met with rejection and confusion. In that sense I had nothing to connect to. Except for music. Specifically musicals. My first exposure to musicals was through Disney films, and there was always something about the art of singing in musicals that made me feel seen and heard. Something about the vulnerability of singing about your problems and hidden desires. Something about the lyrics that I always connected to. It made me feel heard and represented at a time where most media didn’t have representation for people like me. It was a way to relate to outsiders with similar wants to me, and later became a way to express those desires. The need to find belonging. To find connection. To make a difference and prove that I was good enough. Something in my five-year-old self knew that this bizarre medium where people sing out of nowhere was my calling, and in some way made me feel seen and heard like nothing ever did before.