During the Tony Award ceremony, winners did not hesitate to express their wishes for continued and enhanced inclusion in cast, crew, and even the shows themselves.
“Ragtime”, “The Great Gatsby”, Maybe Happy Ending”, “Hadestown”, “The Lion King”, and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes are leading the way in presenting inclusive productions.
Partnering with the Theatre Development Fund to bring some Autism Friendly Performances to Broadway for the 15th year.
So far, these six productions are confirmed through the first of the year with more shows coming in the spring.
“Ragtime” kicks off the shows with an Autism Friendly Show on July 26.
“Hadestown” is presenting their ATP show on August 23.
On September 27, “The Great Gatsby” will give their first ever AFP show.
“Maybe Happy Ending” is presenting their ATP show on October 25.
The annual Radio City Music Hall Rockettes Christmas show is offering an Autism Friendly Performance on November 8.
“The Lion King” will close out January with their ATP show.
TDF executive director Deeksha Gaur spoke on the performances saying, “we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce the first six shows of our milestone 15th season of Autism Friendly Performances, starting with this year’s gorgeous and timely Tony-winning revival of ‘Ragtime’ at Lincoln Center Theater. With these six shows—nearly one per month through January 2027—and more to be announced soon, our AFP program continues to grow, creating more opportunities for families and individuals impacted by autism to experience theatre in a no-judgment, no-apology environment. We remain deeply grateful to our industry partners who have helped this program sustain and bloom over the past 15 years.”
“The Lion King” presented the first ATP show back in 2011; since then there have been over two dozen productions offering their shows in an Autism Friendly environment.
Participating shows make slight adjustments to the productions including the reduction of jarring sounds and strobe lights in the audience. Special stations are set up in the lobby in case someone needs to leave the theatre.
For Autism Friendly Performances, the TDF buys out the house and then resells the tickets at a reduced price to families, groups, and schools whose members include individuals with autism.