OUR TOWN Will Host Autism Friendly Performance in January

TDF will host an autism-friendly performance of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in January. Tailored for families with members on the autism spectrum or with other developmental or cognitive disabilities, this special matinee will be presented through TDF Autism Friendly Performances program (AFP) on Sunday, January 5 at 2 p.m. at the Barrymore Theatre.

Tickets to the autism-friendly performance of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town go on sale Monday, November 18 at 10 a.m. (EST) HERE. Visit TDF.org/autism to learn more about TDF Autism Friendly Performances and to sign up for our email list to learn about upcoming events. 

Thornton Wilder’s Our Town features 28 actors led by Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Jim Parsons as “Stage Manager,” Zoey Deutch as “Emily Webb,” Katie Holmes as “Mrs. Webb,” Obie and Audelco Award winner and Drama Desk nominee Billy Eugene Jones as “Dr. Gibbs,” Tony and Grammy Award nominee Ephraim Sykes as “George Gibbs,” Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas as “Mr. Webb,” Tony and Drama Desk nominee Michelle Wilson as “Mrs. Gibbs,” 2021 Special Tony Award winner and Drama Desk nominee Julie Halston as “Mrs. Soames,” Donald Webber, Jr. as “Simon Stimson,” as well as Ephie Aardema Sarnak, Heather Ayers, Willa Bost, Bobby Daye, Safiya Kaijya Harris, Doron JéPaul, Shyla Lefner, Anthony Michael Lopez, John McGinty, Bryonha Marie, Kevyn Morrow, Hagan Oliveras, Noah Pyzik, Sky Smith, Bill Timoney, Ricardo Vázquez, Matthew Elijah Webb, Greg Wood, and Nimene Sierra Wureh. 

TDF AUTISM FRIENDLY PERFORMANCES launched in 2011 with a special performance of Disney’s The Lion King on Broadway. Since then, there have been AFP of Broadway'sAladdin, Cats, Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes®, Come From Away, Elf: The Musical, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, How to Dance in Ohio, Kinky Boots, Mary Poppins, Matilda The Musical, MJ The Musical, My Fair Lady, New York City Ballet’s production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, SIX, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The King and I, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked.

The program operates under the umbrella of TDF Accessibility Programs. To create an autism-friendly setting, the shows are performed in a supportive environment for children and adults diagnosed with autism or other sensory sensitivities and their families. Slight adjustments are made to the productions, where possible, including the reduction of jarring sounds and strobe lights focused into the audience. In the theatre lobby, there are staffed break areas in case audience members need to leave their seats during the performance. For AFP, TDF purchases every seat in the theatre and makes the tickets available at discount prices exclusively to families, groups, schools, etc. whose members include individuals on the autism spectrum.

The current AFP season, TDF’s 13th, began with autism-friendly performances of Hadestown on August 18 and The Lion King on September 29, and continues with the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes® at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, November 17 at 9 a.m. and MJ The Musical on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 1 p.m. at the Neil Simon Theatre. The first-ever Autism Friendly Performances of Broadway's & Juliet on Sunday, May 4, 2025, at 1 p.m. at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and Hamilton on Sunday, June 29, 2025, at 1 p.m. at the Richard Rodgers Theatre complete the lineup.

Our Town began previews on Tuesday, September 17 and opened on Thursday, October 10 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th) for a strictly limited engagement. Tickets are on sale at Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200.

The design team for Our Town includes scenic design by Tony Award winner Beowulf Boritt (New York, New York; Act One), costume design by Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Dede Ayite (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Suzan Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog), lighting design by Tony Award nominee Allen Lee Hughes (Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog; A Soldier’s Play), sound design by Tony Award nominee Justin Ellington (Ohio State Murders; for colored girls…), hair, wig and makeup design by J. Jared Janas (Mary Jane, Prayer for the French Republic), casting by Jim Carnahan, with Kate Wilson (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window) as the dialect coach.

 Our Town, the timeless drama of life in the village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, has become an American classic with universal appeal. Our Town appeared on Broadway in 1938 to wide acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize. For more info, please visit OurTownBroadway.com.