Under the glow of the Little Theatre’s marquee on East Avenue on the evening of May
8, Race Eberhardt stands in the doorway. Decked in a black tuxedo, he shakes hands
among the droves of theatergoers, a seemingly permanent grin stamped on his face.
That night was the culmination of six years of work for Eberhardt, 37, and director Ben
Gonyo, with the premiere of the pair’s film “Strait Undercover.” Few films of decent
production quality are filmed entirely in Rochester, making the action-comedy notable in that regard alone.
Few films — period — feature actors with Down syndrome, like Eberhardt, in the lead.
Even fewer, if any, have done so without making disability the central theme of the
movie. In fact, Eberhardt’s condition is never mentioned at all during the film’s runtime.
Combine those factors, and “Strait Undercover” is a singularly unique production.
“This is part of my legacy,” Eberhardt said. “That’s part of it, and this great audience out
there that came to see this movie. It was really, really good.”
A week after the screening, Gonyo and Eberhardt sit at the marble countertop of
Eberhardt’s family home in Fairport. It was in that spot that Gonyo and Eberhardt
drafted the script for “Strait Undercover.” Visitors to the home are greeted with a view into Eberhardt’s office. At the center, a large, framed movie poster featuring Eberhardt, hands on hips in a hero’s pose.
Gonyo runs a commercial production company, Fish & Crown Creative, based in
Rochester, and first met Eberhardt through a production of “Shrek the Musical” in 2019.
Following a shelved TV pilot, production on the movie began. While he had previously
done some documentary work, “Strait Undercover” is Gonyo’s first feature film.
The pair are still looking for a distributor for the film, and have already received some
national attention, including a January appearance on “The Today Show.”
“I was like, this guy’s awesome,” Gonyo said. “So, we did that TV pilot that didn’t go
anywhere, but that’s really where I saw his ability. And as I started doing my research, I
realized there [were] no movies like what I was envisioning. It’s always like the
sidekick.”
The role of a sidekick doesn’t suit Eberhardt. His personality is big, his charm palpable.
The answer to every interview question begins with a “well, actually,” followed by a
stream of consciousness foray into every event, conversation and feeling that leads to the answer. His endearing authenticity and enthusiasm nearly scream to be in the
limelight.
Eberhardt began his acting career in 2007 with Artists Unlimited, a performing arts
group exclusively featuring actors with developmental or physical disabilities. He has
been a part of virtually every production the organization has put on since then.
“This is an absolute passion for him, this is what he loves to do,” said Tony Juliano, a
board member with Artists Unlimited. “That’s the short, simple answer about Race.”
Juliano described Eberhardt as the type of actor dedicated to making sure a production
works, and not someone necessarily seeking the center of attention. That habit goes
beyond the stage. A hobby of Eberhardt’s is knitting scarves, which he then sells to
support the organization — Juliano said Eberhardt has raised about $10,000 in scarf
sales.
Last year, at the final performance of Artists Unlimited’s production of “Beauty and the
Beast,” Eberhardt was handed a “big fake check” to show how much he has been able
to raise for the organization. (In August 2024, Eberhardt was named one of CITY’s
“Rochester 10” for both his community involvement and acting.)
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“That’s his way of giving back,” Juliano said. “That’s why I say he’s very selfless, it’s all
about what I can do to help.”
Eberhardt’s major inspirations for acting were the Disney Channel original offerings of
the 2000s. Zac Efron still stands out as a favorite actor, and “High School Musical” is his
favorite movie — a production he would love to do, although Gonyo jokes with him his
singing voice may not be cut out for it.
He’s also not the first actor with Down syndrome to hit the big screen. Most notable in
recent memory is Zack Gottsagen’s role as an aspiring wrestler alongside Shia LaBeouf
in 2019’s “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” That role netted Gottsagen a Hollywood Critics
Association award for best newcomer.
Donna Rush is executive director of the Rochester chapter of Gigi’s Playhouse, an
organization dedicated to changing perceptions of Down syndrome, where Eberhardt
has been involved in adult programs since 2017. She said what actors like Eberhardt do is critical to changing public perceptions of Down syndrome.
“The perception that they can’t do anything, that they’re incapable of doing anything,
that they’re incapable of holding a job, that they’re incapable of conversation, that
they’re incapable of anything, it’s just not true,” Rush said. “That’s old school, and these
individuals are amazing and they’re capable of anything.”
There were some challenges in filming “Strait Undercover.” Gonyo noted, for example,
lines had to be tailored a bit to Eberhardt’s cadence of speaking, as he tends to develop
somewhat of a drawl when speaking longer passages, making shorter lines play better.
Those issues were, overall, minor in the grand scheme of the film, instead making
Eberhardt’s punchlines and quips more memorable.
It’s at this point that the journalist writing this article must make a brief interjection.
In watching “Strait Undercover,” the question weighing on me was how to approach
critiquing the film — do I approach from the lens of the accomplishment of filming a
movie with a person with Down syndrome as the lead, or do I approach it simply as a
movie like any other?
The answer I’ve settled on is Eberhardt and Gonyo set out to make a movie, not just an
inspirational story, extant as the latter might be. In that regard, I think both deserve a
straightforward review.
That said, here is my most honest takeaway: “Strait Undercover” is just so unabashedly,
shamelessly and proudly weird that it was hard for me not to love it. In watching, the
closest comparison I could make is the Kenan and Kel classic “Good Burger” (a movie
that was a pivotal part of my childhood, and thus, I have a soft spot for this particular
brand of goofy surrealism).
To wit, Eberhardt plays Race Strait, a United States Department of Agriculture agent
with the inexplicable ability to communicate telepathically with fields of crop. His
sidekick is fellow agent Lonnie Timpton, played by Buffalo-based actor Peter Johnson,
and the plot surrounds the pair’s scheme to take down a nefarious biotech company
which also moonlights in developing battle robots for the Department of Defense.
Johnson is a standout in the film, playing the ideal straight man to Eberhardt’s antics.
Reece Presley also offers a competent and surprisingly nuanced performance as evil
ag-tech CEO Tommy Malone. (Some of the side character acting is, meanwhile,
wooden.) Eberhardt himself is the beating heart of the movie. His off-beat humor and incessantly earnest demeanor is infectious. It’s hard to imagine any other actor could replace him and keep the same tone of the movie.
That was Gonyo’s goal, he said. The intent of “Strait Undercover” is to build a movie
around Eberhardt and his sentimentalities, with a healthy dose of camp spread
throughout. For fans of the B-movie ethos, it will resonate. And as for Eberhardt, he’s already planning a sequel set in Miami. That hasn’t been
made official yet, but one thing has.
“Everyone has been so proud, my friends and family even,” Eberhardt said. “They come
to me and say, ‘Race, you’re a movie star!’”
Gino Fanelli is a reporter for WXXI/CITY. He can be reached at gfanelli@wxxi.org.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
