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Working - Autism-Friendly Performance

With the assistance of a generous grant from the Astra Foundation of Acton, MA, and with the help of the Autism Alliance of Metro West, we are excited to follow in the footsteps of Autism-Friendly Broadway performances of The Lion King and Mary Poppins as we offer a unique live theater performance of the musical Annie which has been specially adapted to serve the needs of audience members on the autism spectrum.

Our general performances of Annie will take place on the weekends of January 11th and January 18th, 2013, however the one performance on January 19th at noon will not be open to the general public. Tickets for that performance will be available exclusively to individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their supervising family members, caregivers or friends.

TICKETS
Tickets ($8 each) are all reserved seating. Limited seats are remaining, please call (978) 264-8150 to inquire.

There is only one autism-friendly performance available, so don't delay. We have some subsidized tickets available to families for whom the cost of the tickets presents a financial hardship. If you have any questions about the tickets or the performance, please contact our autism-friendly show coordinator.

Despite our efforts, this performance will not be suitable for everyone. You are the expert where your child is concerned - please consider your child's sensory sensitivities and plan accordingly.

We will have a live dog playing the role of SANDY. We hope to have the dog be one of the actors that comes out on stage before the performance to be introduced to the audience.

The performance is about 2 hours long plus a 15 minute intermission. We understand that this is a long time, and we expect that there will be some audience movement between the auditorium and the lobby and the "chill-out" space. We also understand that some audience members might have to leave before the end of the show.

We know that some individuals with ASD's have special dietary needs, and in general, there is no food or drink allowed in the auditorium. We have received special permission to provide a snack that will be allowed in the auditorium during intermission. We will be serving a snack (at no charge) to everyone in the audience at this performance. We are planning to provide a bottle of water, a fun size packet of plain chocolate MMs, and a snack size bag of plain Lay's potato chips.

In late November, we will have a link on this page to download a PDF or Microsoft WORD document containing a Social Story to allow audience members and their families, teachers, therapists or caregivers to prepare for this event. The WORD version of the document can be customized and personalized to an individual, while the PDF document will be generic.

At the performance, we strongly encourage parents and caregivers to be aware of any early warning signs of difficult behavior or tantrums.

The adjustments that we are making to the production include:

• House lights to remain partially lit during the whole performance
• Assistive communication devices, and headphones are allowed
• Judgment free experience - because all of the audience members at the performance will be aware of the make up of the audience population, there will not be an issue of behavior expectations
• Cast and crew members will have received professional training to ensure that they are aware of audience needs
• A brief pre-show introduction of the actors in costume (but out of character) to reinforce the fact that the production is pretend
• An expectation that audience members are likely to vocalize and move around during the production
• A separate staffed "chill-out" space outside the auditorium to allow people to leave the performance if needed (we expect to have a video monitor in this space that will show the on-going performance on the stage)
• We are holding training sessions to educate our cast and crew, and we will have specialists assisting the ushers and house staff.

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