Via Lawson Taitte on the Dallas Morning News’ Artsblog, tonight’s Avenue Q performance will be dedicated to the late-actor Gary Coleman. Coleman features in the play as a parody character based on the child star. As FrontRow’s theater critic David Novinski put it:

“As if to embody the message of the show, one of the characters is a former child celebrity. What better medium could there be to convey that adulthood comes whether you’re ready or not. This show talks to us like kids, reminding us that we’re not.”

Parodying the late-television star on the day of his death may come off as insensitive, dampening the humor at the Winspear. But it must be noted that in his later years, Coleman even took to parodying himself. In a 2000 interview, Coleman explained why:

“I parody myself every chance I get. I try to make fun of myself and let people know that I’m a human being, and these things that have happened to me are real. I’m not just some cartoon who exists and suddenly doesn’t exist.”

Coleman’s death reemphasizes that existence, and the Coleman role in the play may bear even more weight now tonight given the context. Jerome Weeks on the role.

Photo: (Center) Nigel Jamaal Clark in the Gary Coleman role in Avenue Q, between Princeton (Brent Michael DiRoma) and Kate Monster (Jacqueline Grabois) Photo © John Daughtry 2009.