Is your family normal? Don't answer. It doesn't matter: Hamilton Fringe

Other people's kids wake up in the morning, eat their breakfast and get ready for school. Not yours. Yours sleep in. Mill about. Don't like breakfast and have emotional outbursts.

We're allowing that vulnerability to be our strength. That's what will make it a piece that connects with people.- Kelly Wolf

Other people's kids don't have tantrums in public places. They're not fighting with their parents. They're normal families.

That concept one of the fictional, normalfamily is the focus of a new Hamilton Fringe Festival play, Normal Shmormal. And it's the product of a Dundas family who wrote it to flick the idea of "normal" in the face.

The play focuses on a relationship between a father and his 14-year-old son who has ADHD.

It's a mostly biographical story written by Steve Hartwellabout his relationship with his son Rhys.Mom Kelly Wolf, a set and costume designer who's an instructor at Brock University, is directing for the first time.

This play is their way of owning the ways they're different from other families, Wolf said. And "normal" is a stressful, oppressive concept anyway.

Hamilton Fringe Festival 2017

7 years ago

Duration 0:54

Here's a look at some of the shows this July at the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival.

"Going to bed at eight. Eating dinner at the same time. None of those things happen at our house," she said.

"We're allowing that vulnerability to be our strength. That's what will make it a piece that connects with people."

Wolf and Hartwell first thought about these questionswhen Rhys was a child. He seemed distracted, frustrated, and unable to stay on task, Wolf said. Each morning, there was "an inability to just get out the door."

When he was diagnosed with ADHD, "we didn't tell a lot of people early on," she said. "We didn't want people to judge him. Then later on, we kind of owned it."

Rhys is OK with the play, she said. He's read the script, and his face even adorns the poster. The characters are fictional but the story is based on their lives, Wolf said. And they're named Steve, Kelly and Rhys.

Wolf's play isn't the only one dealing with ADHD at this year's Hamilton Fringe Festival.

The ADHD Project, written by new Hamilton resident Carlyn Rhamey, is "a biographical account of growing up with ADHD and learning to embrace and celebrate what makes us different," the media release says.

"I'm sharing my story in hopes that it will raise awareness about neurodiversity," Rhamey said. And it will "show how hilariously eventful life can be when you experience it a little differently."

The Hamilton festival is the third stop on a five-city fringe festival tour for Rhamey's play, which Jon Paterson is directing. The 60-minute play is showing at the Staircase Theatre.

Normal Shmormal, meanwhile, is a 20-minute play presented as part of the gallery series in the Evergreen Cityworks space. Wolf's theatre company is called Open Heart.

Normal Shmormal

• Friday, July 21: 8:15 p.m.
• Saturday, July 22: 3:15 p.m.
• Saturday, July 22: 9:15 p.m.
• Sunday, July 23: 3:15 p.m.
• Friday, July 28: 7:15 p.m.
• Saturday,July 29: 8:15 p.m.
• Sunday, July 30: 2:15 p.m.
• Sunday, July 30: 8:15 p.m.

Location: EvergreenCityworks294 James St N, Hamilton, ON.

Tickets: $8 each with a $5 backer button (required).

The ADHDProject

Thursday, July 20:7:15 p.m.

• Friday, July 21:8:20 p.m.
• Saturday, July 22:9:50 p.m.
• Sunday, July 23:6:15 p.m.
• Mon, July 24:8:15 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 25:7 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 26: 6 p.m.
• Thursday, July 27:7:35 p.m.
• Friday, July 28:10:05 p.m.
• Saturday, July 29: 2 p.m.

Location: Staircase Theatre, main theatre27DundurnSt.

Tickets: $10 (with button).