The ‘A-Train’ Makes Its Way to the Rubicon in Ventura

Developed at UCSB’s Launch Pad, Show Explores Personal Journey of a Woman Whose Son Is Diagnosed with Autism

Annie Torsiglieri in the West Coast premiere of ‘A Train’ at the Rubicon Theatre | Photo: HuthPhoto

Santa Barbara–based artist Annie Torsiglieri has been fine-tuning her original solo show, A-Train, for more than a decade. A-Train runs April 10-28 at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, making up for its foiled 2020 production, canceled due to COVID. “We were supposed to do this spring of 2020 at the Rubicon, then a short run in New York … and it had been accepted at the United Solo Festival,” says Torsiglieri. “All scrapped.”

Rather than shelving the project, which was initially developed in the Launch Pad program at UCSB, Torsiglieri took the opportunity to reimagine, revise, and update the show by asking the question: What could make this even better?

A-Train depicts the concern, confusion, and frustration of a mother whose young son has been diagnosed with autism. This updated version of the show reflects a shift in perspective from the main character that mirrors that of the writer/performer. “My own relationship with autism has changed,” says Torsiglieri. “The show used to be in present tense; now it’s in past tense. I have some distance from the diagnosis…. As opposed to the rigidity of me being in trauma in the moment, I can approach it from a more well-rounded perspective rather than being tight like a knot.”

A-Train 2024 also includes new narrative threads to follow and two new songs by composer Brad Carroll.

In earlier iterations, A-Train (directed by Risa Brainin) was a moving solo show that effortlessly balanced topical significance with being thoroughly entertaining. It’s exciting to see how the artists involved have cultivated the piece in the last several years.

“There’s been a compassionate and beautiful shift in a lot of the world about neurodiversity and neurodivergence in general, which is great,” says Torsiglieri. “It’s been important to me to do what little I can toward furthering the opening of hearts and minds, and inspiration and insight and acceptance.”