Thanks to figures like Elon Musk and RFK Jr, folks on the autism spectrum are being unfairly associated with antisocial elitists on one end and dismissed as undesirable burdens on the other. But what if Asperger’s Syndrome is neither a supremacist superpower nor a disabling disorder, but simply another facet of being a fallible human being?
Wrapped in a black garbage bag, solo performer Ilana Jael stalks a Scarlet stage strewn with detritus, clutching a large cardboard box full of shit she’s abused and broken: from plants and purses to phones and marriage engagements. Out of this trash, she spins together the strands of neurodivergent symptoms that have entangled her efforts to find personal and professional satisfaction, starting from her days as a Tasmanian Devil toddler with such aggressive ADHD that she drove teachers into early retirement. Her attempts to be “normal” have involved slipping psychotropic medication into chocolate milkshakes, visits to ERs and psych wards, and eating and alcohol use disorders, as well as the artistic outlet of embodying emotionally intense characters onstage.
Ilana is a wonderfully wry writer with a pitch-black sense of humor and unflinching insight into her own alphabet soup of neurological complications. A manic pixie dream girl for the current apocalypse, she endearingly admits that she’s good at stringing sentences together, but can’t read social cues written on the wall.
Obviously uncomfortable and overwhelmed during her preview, she bravely fumbled forward with script and hard seltzer in hand. Her show seemed more like a cry for help than the comedy I came expecting, and watching her wrestle with her self-destructive impulses was honestly heart-wrenching. I sincerely hope she can overcome her anxieties enough to elevate her eyes above the page and personally connect with an empathizing audience (or at least a qualified professional). Because even if Ilana Jael is a self-described dumpster fire, her artistic immolation is impossible to ignore.
Things That I Destroy: The Overmedicated Misadventures of an Autistic Antiheroine
Scarlet Venue, Orlando Family Stage
45 minutes; 18 & up
$10
Get tickets
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This article appears in May 14-20, 2025.