"We are born astride a grave - WaynesWorldStage.com

Not wanting the audience to miss any ofthe play, I began to mouth words without sayinganything. The actor playing Vladimir, my oldfriend from Detroit, Jerry Greenwood,immediately picked up on it. We ran and jumpedand gyrated and mouthed words until the rainstopped. During all this, the audience probablyassumed they were missing a lot of dialog becausethey couldn’t hear a word. When the rainsuddenly subsided, the audience realized that, onstage, we were just mouthing words, passing timeuntil the rain stopped. They began to laugh andthen began to applaud. We picked up where weleft off and continued the play.It was in North Carolina that I first heardthe word "autism." An actor in the company,Alex Burk, suggested to Joan and I that Michelesuffered from autism. We had never heard theterm before. It was coined by Bruno Bettelheim.As it was explained to us, it meant that a childwas so withdrawn that he or she would not speak.Not could not, but would not. Michele was now 18months old. She didn't walk. She didn't talk. Itwas clear to everyone but Joan and me thatsomething was wrong. We took her to see thedoctor often, but he never implied that anythingwas wrong. We thought that she was slow butwould be fine.124