This Saturday afternoon, a new play by Main Line native James Christy Jr. will receive a staged reading in Center City.

“Love and Communication” has an ambitious theme: it focuses on the struggles of a husband and wife after their son is diagnosed with autism.

Christy, who now lives in Princeton, is one of the six winners of the annual competition sponsored by PlayPenn, an organization for new play development. Each year, PlayPenn holds a national competition to select the most promising works in progress.

The playwrights are then given the unusual opportunity for two weeks of intensive work on their plays, culminating in a staged reading.

The theme of Christy’s play has deep personal meaning for him. Of his three children, the oldest, Jimmy, who is now 7, was diagnosed with autism at age 3.

via Main Line Media News.

Over the years many parents have reached out to me for emotional support after their child was diagnosed with autism. I particularly remember getting Jenny McCarthy’s phone call shortly after her son’s diagnosis. Like most moms and dads, she needed to connect with somebody who knew first hand the swift gut-kick of this difficult diagnosis, somebody who had been in the trenches for 7 years already.

via Holly Robinson Peete: Shifting Focus: 8 Facts About Autism the Media Is Not Covering.