Why stop at one genre when you can have three in one play?

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” Cascades Theatrical Company’s first production of the 2018-19 season, weaves together a story that is equal parts mystery, comedy and coming-of-age drama.

Adapted by Simon Stephens from the 2003 Mark Haddon novel of the same name, the action of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is set into motion by an indeed curious incident: a 15-year-old boy named Christopher (played by Spencer Johnson) discovers the corpse of his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, at seven minutes after midnight. His neighbor Mrs. Shears discovers the boy near her dog’s body; she assumes Christopher is the culprit.

When an officer arrives on scene, Christopher, on the autism spectrum, let’s him know just how much he doesn’t like to be touched, taking a wild swing that lands him briefly in jail.

Christopher denies everything — honest to a fault, he’d undoubtedly fess up were he the culprit — and takes it upon himself to suss out the truth. In spite of his distrust of strangers and a direct order to mind his own business from his father (Craig Brauner), Christopher embarks on a neighborhood adventure to learn the truth behind Wellington’s fate. Along the way, the things he learns also mark the end of his innocence.

“It’s a coming-of-age story that’s relatable to any teen who recognizes that his parents cannot always be there for him,” said director Hilda Beltran Wagner. “He has a particular challenge in that, like any teen, (he’s) both independent and dependent at once. Because of his spectrum disorder, he has a particularly poignant tension in navigating independence and dependence.”

The laughs come mostly from the way Christopher brushes against the world. A mathematical genius, Christopher has a logical mind that makes him a formidable investigator, while at the same time he doesn’t cotton to strangers and can’t stand to be touched. Christopher has also experienced tragedy — losing his mother a few years prior to the action in the play.

The mystery behind Wellington’s sad end is resolved fairly early on, Wagner said. “It creates a different challenge for Christopher that he has to deal with in the second act.”

Though the general story is the same as in the source novel, Wagner notes that the play is constructed in meta fashion, the story unfolding as his teacher (Ann Marie Anderson) reads from the manuscript Christopher is writing about his investigation.

“The play is a story within a story. It’s a play within a play. … That meta-theatrical aspect is really emphasized in the second act,” Wagner said.

Along with the major roles, there’s a crack ensemble supporting them, moving in harmony and serving as props, characters or whatever else the script demands.

In early rehearsals, the cast worked with movement director Julee Vadnais, Wagner said. “We worked very hard for two weeks straight with getting the group comfortable,” Wagner said. “It’s really been so much fun to work with that ensemble element, and it’s not just lip service to say they are like this organic, unified organism.”

Christopher doesn’t like to be touched, “And yet the ensemble is constantly lifting him up and interacting with him physically in a way that the people he’s intimate with, his family, can’t do. It’s almost like there’s a physical bridge in that it kind of provides that familiarity a little bit and yet remains true to the character.”

Wagner, a drama and English teacher at Redmond High School, encouraged recent Redmond High graduate Spencer Johnson to audition.

“The great thing about being a theater teacher is you get to see how much talent there is in the community,” she said. “So I was absolutely looking for the best Christopher, whoever that happened to be. Because I knew Spencer’s work, I knew that he’d be a strong contender.”

Wagner predicts that the excellent Brauner, who plays Christopher’s father, will be a sought-after actor in Central Oregon.

The Sept. 2 matinee will be a sensory friendly performance. Intended for people on the autism spectrum, the performance will have reduced sound, light and projection cues.

“There’s a strong visual and audio element that can be intimidating and unwelcoming to people who are on the autism spectrum,” Wagner said. “The lights and technology are really an exciting and important aspect of the performance in that they express and reflect the way he processes information. They’re sort of an extension of his character and his perspective, and they kind of invite the audience into what that perspective is.”