Photo Flash: Broadway's THE KING AND I Partners with TDF for Autism-Friendly Performance

Yesterday, Sunday April 24, Theatre Development Fund's (TDF) Autism Theatre Initiative presented the first autism-friendly performance of Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The audience was comprised solely of families with children or adults on the autism-spectrum. Thirty-six TDF volunteers (many autism experts) helped the parents and children, handed out character cards (that described the main characters in the show) and fidgets (that they can hold and squeeze if they became anxious). There were specially allocated Quiet Areas and Activity Areas in case someone needed a break or a "time out."

This special performance of The King and I completed TDF's fifth-season of presenting autism-friendly shows on Broadway for this special audience. The other autism-friendly performances of Broadway shows this season were The Lion King (September 27, 2015), Wicked (February 7, 2016) and Aladdin (March 6, 2016). The King and I's cast of 51, along with its 29-piece orchestra, performs 8 shows a week at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. On Tuesday, May 3, The King and I will welcome Tony nominee Marin Mazzie and television's Daniel Dae Kim from "Lost" to the production in the leading roles of Anna and the King of Siam.

To learn more about TDF's Autism Theatre Initiative go to: www.tdf.org/autism OR to see an entire range of Broadway performances accessible to people with physical and development disabilities go to the newly launched site:www.theatreaccess.nyc.

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Leah Diaz (Coordinator of Accessibility Programs), Lisa Carling (Director of TDF's Accessiblity Programs) and Philip Dallmann (Manager of Accessibility Programs)