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(New York, NY) – TDF, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to sharing the power of the performing arts with everyone, will host an autism-friendly performance of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. 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's Aladdin, 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 Street) 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.

This production is produced by Jeffrey Richards, Samsational Entertainment, Louise Gund, Eric Falkenstein, Suzanne Grant, Patty Baker, Daryl Roth/Tom Tuft, Ronald Frankel, Rebecca Gold, Gabrielle Palitz, Brunish-Rooney-Hui/Laura Little, Thom & Karen Lauzon, Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra, Score 3 Partners, Secret Hideout, David S. Stone, Craig Balsam, John Gore Organization, Caiola Productions, Concord Theatricals, Melissa & Bradford Coolidge, Irene Gandy, Kenny Leon, Willette & Manny Klausner, Andrew Marderian-Davis, Ellen Susman, Leslie Rainbolt, Randy Jones Toll & Steven Toll, James S. Levine, Hank & Kara Steinberg, Alexander “Sandy” Marshall, Ken & Rande Greiner, David Schwartz & Trudy Zohn, Patrick W. Jones, Maia Kayla Glasman, Brandon J. Schwartz, and The Shubert Organization.

TDF wishes to acknowledge the following donors for their generous support of TDF Autism Friendly Performances:

Darlene and Stuart Altschuler, Theodore H. Barth Foundation, The FAR Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Jane and In Seon Hwang, Thomas M. Neff and HADESTOWN Education Initiative, NEXT for AUTISM, RBC Foundation USA, Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation, Seventh District Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Smart Family Foundation of New York, The Start It! Foundation, The Taft Foundation, Ronald and Catherine Weiss in honor of Joseph Flom, and one anonymous donor.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addiction. This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

ABOUT TDF ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAMS

TDF Accessibility Programs make theatregoing possible for people with physical disabilities as well as individuals on the autism spectrum. The full range of services includes Autism Friendly Performances of Broadway productions; accessible seating for those with mobility issues; and open captioned, American sign language-interpreted, and audio described performances of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows for theatregoers who are Deaf or have hearing loss, are blind or have low vision. TDF also trains theatres in the US and abroad on how to set up open captioning programs and autism-friendly shows and offers an educational enrichment program for students who are Deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision. TDF partnered with The Broadway League to develop the website TheatreAccess.NYC, the official site for accessibility information for shows on Broadway and beyond.

ABOUT TDF

Founded in 1968, TDF (formerly known as Theatre Development Fund) is a not-for-profit service organization dedicated to sharing the power of the performing arts with everyone. TDF’s mission is to engage a broad and diverse audience by removing the financial, physical, and invisible barriers to participation in the performing arts. TDF’s initiatives include the TKTS by TDF Discount Booths; TDF Memberships; the TDF Costume Collection; and TDF Accessibility, Education, and Public Engagement Programs. Those Programs include open captioned, audio described, and ASL-interpreted performances; Autism Friendly Performances; the Veterans Theatregoing Program; school programs serving more than 11,000 NYC public school students annually; and partnerships with over 150 NYC community organizations serving 18,000 people in the tristate area. TDF envisions a world where the transformative experience of attending live theatre and dance is essential, relevant, accessible, and inspirational.

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