LAFPI

Self-Injurious Behavior 

written by and starting Jessica Cavanaugh, directed by Marianne Galloway

Self-Injurious Behavior is based on Jessica Cavanagh’s own story of loss, love and survival in dealing with her son’s autism diagnosis.

When severely autistic, eleven-year-old Benjamin becomes a danger to himself, his divorced mother, Summer, makes the excruciating decision to admit him to a home for special needs kids. Seeking comfort, she visits her sisters in Portland who desperately and hilariously attempt to distract her with a weekend of escapism at the local renaissance faire. Plagued by haunting dreams of her son and memories of her marriage, she is forced to face the need to let go. Resonating across audience demographics thanks to the play’s bittersweet and unique blend of honesty and humor, in telling her story, Jessica Cavanagh has captured a voice that speaks to the power within us all to not only cope with our own “unimaginables” but to continue to live, making this a story not only about autism and motherhood, but about the resilience of the human spirit.

Self-Injurious Behavior‘s workshop was a runaway hit in Dallas (2018), where the writer/performer is based, and then New York City (April 2019), during National Autism Awareness Month.  Theatre 68’s Executive Producers Joe Mantegna and Ronnie Marmo decided to bring the show to Los Angeles for the World Premiere.

Starring Cavanaugh, the cast also includes Jude Segrest, Jonathan Brooks, Janie Haddad Tompkins, Jullian Cavanagh, Gisla Stringer, Madison Calhoun, Mitch Lerner.

The production is coupled with an effort to raise autism awareness and to reach out to the community of families living with loved ones on the spectrum, and those with autism themselves, through a special partnership with Autism Works Now.

Previews 8:00pm Friday, August 30 & Saturday, August 31;  2:00pm Sunday, September 1

Opens Saturday September 6 and plays Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 2:00pm & 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm

For more info, visit www.sibonstage.com