{"id":350379,"date":"2026-07-23T21:22:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350379\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T21:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:22:42","slug":"dancing-lessons-enlightens-as-it-entertains-wgcu-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/350379\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dancing Lessons’ enlightens as it entertains | WGCU News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever Montgomery is a professor at the New York Institute of Technology. He lives one floor above Senga Quinn, an accomplished Broadway dancer who finds her career in jeopardy due to an encounter with a New York taxi.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s abrupt and socially awkward.<\/p>\n

\"After<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

After being injured in an accident that is likely to prevent her from ever dancing again, Senga Quinn (Chloe Elliott-Chan) is depressed, bordering on despondent. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s depressed, bordering on despondent.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s in no mood to deal with her pushy neighbor \u2026 until he makes a rather surprising admission in the living room of her Upper Westside apartment, in Theatre Conspiracy’s production at Off Broadway Palm.<\/p>\n

Ever: \u201cI have a form of autism called Asperger\u2019s, but the American Psychiatric Association decided it didn\u2019t exist anymore, so they eliminated the classification,\u201d Ever tells Senga. \u201cThey say it\u2019s elitist and want to call us all autistic, but we never voted, so I still say I have Asperger\u2019s. I\u2019m a rebel that way.\u201d
Senga: \u201cYou\u2019re autistic?\u201d
Ever: \u201cYes. You sound surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Senga<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Senga Quinn is more curious than surprised when her neighbor tells her he has Asperger’s Syndrome.<\/p>\n

Not surprised \u2026 as much as curious.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is kind of an abrasive person herself, but once she realizes he has autism, it really switches on that curiosity that drives the rest of the play and allows her to see him in a different light,\u201d notes Chloe Elliott-Chan, who plays Senga.<\/p>\n

Curiosity is a refreshing reaction.<\/p>\n

In Ever\u2019s experience, most people prejudge.<\/p>\n

Many people have heard or believe things about autism that aren’t true. So Ever, played by Steven Coe, clarifies what that means.<\/p>\n

\"Steven<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Steven Coe’s character, Ever Montgomery, insists that he’s not sick, he’s an anomaly.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Illnesses can be cured. I\u2019m not sick. I\u2019m an anomaly, but I\u2019m not alone,\u2019 he tells her,\u201d said Coe. \u201cHe finds value in community with like-minded people, but he does put himself out there and tries to be as courageous as possible throughout his life and to be high-functioning and be out in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like taking dance lessons in preparation for an awards ceremony he has to attend because it\u2019s in his honor. Ever wants to fit in, to be just like \u2026 neurotypical people.<\/p>\n

One scene, in particular, underscores just how determined Ever is to fit in. In it, Ever imitates images displayed on his laptop of people expressing basic human emotions such as sadness, fear and joy.<\/p>\n

\"Determined<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Determined to fit in with neurotypical people, Ever imitates images displayed on his laptop of people expressing basic human emotions such as sadness, fear and joy. <\/p>\n

To portray the challenges faced by those on the autism spectrum, Coe not only did his research, he also relied on personal experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, I actually had several friends that actually did have Asperger\u2019s and I have some experience with it,\u201d Coe said.<\/p>\n

Coe knew from these childhood experiences that no two people on the spectrum are alike.<\/p>\n

In fact, Ever makes that very point in the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery person with Asperger\u2019s, every person with autism, they are all different,\u201d Coe emphasized. \u201cSo, it\u2019s not like there was, ah yes, here\u2019s a checklist, do this, this, this, this and then you\u2019re going to be [portraying] Asperger\u2019s. It was a long history of observation.\u201d
While there may be no checklist, lack of eye contact is very common. But that presents problems in a theatrical setting, said Coe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very interesting challenge because so much of what we perceive to be good acting is making eye contact and listening to your partner and facing towards them and being within their energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ever is also touch averse. That seems to present an insurmountable obstacle when it comes to learning to dance.<\/p>\n

To overcome that impediment Senga must first earn Ever\u2019s trust. Once she does, she organically devises simple steps to induce Ever to accept physical contact.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

In this scene, Senga teaches Ever to accept her touch by simply running his fingers over hers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey get to identify with each other a bit and she sort of is enjoying the teaching aspect and just the curiosity of getting to know someone else after being so absorbed with your own depression,\u201d explained Elliott-Chan.<\/p>\n

\"Senga<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Senga Quinn teaches Ever Montgomery how to let her touch him.<\/p>\n

Through this process, Senga and, derivatively, the audience, discover what Easterseals wants us all to know.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery 1 with Autism belongs,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

Everyone with autism deserves to be truly seen, accepted and celebrated for who they are.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the heart of belonging.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that’s one of the things I truly love about the show, is that it’s really a beautiful story about human connection,\u201d said Coe. \u201cAnd so with that, there is definitely a bit of a metaphor there about the fear of what could happen when you put yourself out there, and wanting and craving human touch and connection, but not being able to give yourself over to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might feel like a misfit, but you have more in common than you think once you listen,\u201d Elliott-Chan added.<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing Lessons\u201d runs through Aug. 2 in the Off Broadway Palm in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

\"Chloe<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Chloe Elliott-Chan plays Senga Quinn in ‘Dancing Lessons’ for Theatre Conspiracy.<\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION:<\/p>\n

With \u201cDancing Lessons,\u201d playwright Mark St. Germain manages to craft a compelling story of social connection between two vastly different people without the play sounding like a lecture or an Easterseals PSA. It entertains and enlightens at the same time.<\/p>\n

In the play, Senga Quinn is a Broadway dancer who has performed with various dance companies around the country. She has suffered major leg injuries in an accident. It\u2019s unlikely she\u2019ll ever dance again because she cannot have surgery due to her life-threatening allergy to anesthesia. At the beginning of the play, she\u2019s depressed, bordering on despondent. If she can never again do what she loves, she would rather be dead.<\/p>\n

Ever Montgomery is neither injured nor ill. He has Asperger\u2019s Syndrome, a \u201cpervasive developmental disorder on the high end of the autism spectrum that is characterized by an inability to understand how to interact socially,\u201d according to medicinenet.com. In Ever\u2019s case, he is ignorant of social cues and conventions. But he\u2019s committed to learning how to recognize them in order to fit in with neurotypical people.<\/p>\n

\"Ever<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Ever Montgomery (Steven Coe) and Senga Quinn (Chloe Elliott-Chan) get to know one another during ‘Dancing Lessons.’ <\/p>\n

Themes<\/p>\n

“Dancing Lessons” transcends the subject of autism and Asperger\u2019s to focus on two people who work past their differences and Senga\u2019s cynicism in order to find commonality, connection and trust. They do that by opening channels of open and honest communication.<\/p>\n

As Ever and Senga interact more, they come to realize they have more in common than they thought. This is the play\u2019s broader theme. If we\u2019d only be more open to understanding others, we\u2019d be better able to connect with them, positively impacting them and ourselves in the process.<\/p>\n

\"Senga<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Senga Quinn (Chloe Elliott-Chan) forces her neighbor with Asperger’s Syndrome (Steven Coe) to face the elephant in the room. <\/p>\n

Easterseals Autism Campaign<\/p>\n

Although not intended, the play coincides with Easterseals\u2019 current \u201cEvery 1 with Autism Belongs\u201d campaign. In sum, the campaign\u2019s goal is to teach the truth about autism, stop the myths, and help everyone feel like they belong.<\/p>\n

Sharing real stories, along with facts and information backed by research, helps people see that everyone with autism is different. That, in turn, builds bridges towards more kindness and understanding. It helps to realize that autism is not a processing error. It’s a different operating system.<\/p>\n

\"Early<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Early on, Ever Montgomery doesn’t want to slow dance but he doesn’t have the flow to dance fast, either. <\/p>\n

The importance of dance<\/p>\n

There is actually very little dancing in \u201cDance Lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the show focuses on social connection and the premise that if we look hard enough, the world is full of people who can have the most profound impact on us \u2014 no matter how different they may seem at first blush.<\/p>\n

Yet, the importance of movement as an adaptive therapy for people on the autism spectrum lies at the heart of what transpires onstage.<\/p>\n

Most social skills interventions for autism are cognitive \u2013 learning scripts, practicing conversations, using a laptop to identify emotions displayed through the facial expressions and body language of neurotypical people.<\/p>\n

\"Ever<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Ever is so touch averse that when Senga goes to slow dance with him, he darts out of the way causing her to crash to the floor. <\/p>\n

Dance works differently.<\/p>\n

Research and field studies suggest that matching another person\u2019s rhythm \u2014 mirroring their movements \u2014 enables autistic children and adults to increase their feelings of affiliation and connection. So, although the play doesn\u2019t dwell on the dancing lessons Senga gives Ever, her implicit dance therapy opens Ever up to genuine social connection which, in the play, is ultimately symbolized by his receptivity to physical touch.<\/p>\n

\"Ever<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Ever (Steven Coe) tries to show Senga his gratitude. <\/p>\n

Human extinction subtheme<\/p>\n

At various points during the play, the action moves into Ever\u2019s classroom, where he lectures students on the subjects of global warming, sea level rise and the extinction of 20 percent of all species by the year 2075.<\/p>\n

Several theater critics have denigrated these scenes, but Coe finds the juxtaposition interesting for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a metaphor in there about human connection, just in the same way that the monoculture has kind of died,\u201d said Coe. \u201cWe’re all atomizing into our own little pools of influence in the social media age. There is that theme, definitely, of if we lose our communities, we don’t connect with human beings, we lose a bit of our humanity because that’s something endemic to the human condition. We’ve always been social creatures. We hunted and gathered in packs. We always told stories around the fire, and we always danced. If we lose that, we lose that human connection. We lose something in our humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chloe<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Chloe Elliott-Chan as Senga Quinn in ‘Dancing Lessons.’<\/p>\n

About the playwright<\/p>\n

Mark St. Germain has written the plays \u201cCamping with Henry and Tom\u201d (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award), \u201cOut of Gas on Lover’s Leap\u201d and \u201cForgiving Typhoid Mary\u201d (Time Magazine\u2019s \u201cYear\u2019s Ten Best\u201d), and \u201cEars on a Beatle\u201d and \u201cGod Committee,\u201d all published by Samuel French and Dramatist Play Service.
With Randy Courts, he has written the musicals \u201cThe Gifts of the Magi,\u201d \u201cJohnny Pye and the Foolkiller,\u201d winner of an AT&T \u201cNew Plays For the Nineties Award\u201d and \u201cJack’s Holiday\u201d at Playwrights Horizons.<\/p>\n

His musical, \u201cStand By Your Man, The Tammy Wynette Story\u201d was created for Nashville\u2019s Ryman Theater.<\/p>\n

\"Steven<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n

Steven Coe is Ever Montgomery in ‘Dancing Lessons.’ <\/p>\n

Television credits include writer and creative consultant for \u201cThe Cosby Show.\u201d He co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard\u2019s Warner Brothers film, \u201cDuma.\u201d He directed and co-produced the documentary, \u201cMy Dog, An Unconditional Love Story\u201d featuring Richard Gere, Glenn Close and Edward Albee.<\/p>\n

St. Germain has also written the children\u2019s book, \u201cThree Cups.\u201d (www.3cupsbook.com<\/a>.)
He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, where he was given the Joe A. Callaway Award, a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer\u2019s Guild East and a board member of the Barrington Stage Company. He was awarded the \u201cNew Voices In American Theatre\u201d award at the William Inge Theatre Festival.<\/p>\n

Support for WGCU\u2019s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever Montgomery is a professor at the New York Institute of Technology. He lives one floor above Senga…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-350379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}