Friday, November 25, 2016
Fathom Events to Launch ‘Nutcracker’ Performances For Autistic Customers
Variety: Fathom Events is partnering with the Autism Society of America to bring alternative content to autistic customers, starting with the Bolshoi Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” on Dec. 19, Variety has learned exclusively.
The one-night, sensory-friendly event — which mirrors AMC’s nine-year-old program — provides for the lights to be raised and the audio lowered. Audiences will not be expected to stay quiet or in their seats, so those on the spectrum and their families can feel comfortable in the movie theater, allowing patrons to dance along with the ballerinas on screen, shout, sing, move around the room and express themselves however they like.
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7 comments:
What an awesome opportunity this is! It is great to hear that sensory sensitive event environments are becoming more common place. I remember first hearing about sensory sensitive performance environments in an article by American Theatre last year. It was a very intriguing article that discussed the benefits and inclusionary nature of sensory sensitive environments. In the article, however, it did not target audience members that were on the autism spectrum. The article discussed the benefits of having a relaxed audience environment for any type of patron that found normal audience environments uncomfortable. I am glad I read that article before reading this one. This article only briefly explained sensory sensitive audience environments.
I don't know if I would have been able to appreciate this article as fully without having read the American Theatre piece. This article focused more on the business partnership of the event rather than the social implications. It is, however, great to know that businesses are backing this type of venture.
This is a wonderful event. Not only can people on the autism spectrum go to the movie theater, but they can see the ballet. Though it is growing more common for ballet companies to have autism friendly performances, they can still be inaccessible. Often times these performances are either they are too far away or too expensive. The Nutcracker is a great Christmas and winter time event. It's wonderful that this will now be accessible to a community that it was previously closed off too. I hope that families find out about this event and that they feel encouraged to take the opportunity. I worry that families might shy away from this event because they are scared. I hope that other movies start to be shown in this format, so that people on the autism spectrum can see them and that, in the future, these events will be shown in more the 26 locations so that more people can see them.
I love that the entertainment industry as a whole is moving towards becoming more inclusive towards those who previously could not have the same experiences. Like Rebecca said these events are becoming more widespread but are still sometimes hard to get to for their target audiences. Screening this as a Fathom Event has the potential to bring it everywhere, and to anyone who wishes to go see it. Although they are starting on a smaller scale with this showing they could expand this to all movie theatres and include more classic material. Something that I would love to see are children's movies having showings in sensory sensitive environments, and it seems like the logical next step after a family-friendly ballet screening. This a small step, but it is a step in the right direction that hopefully other companies will begin to take. Everyone should have the opportunity to go and see a screening or movie if they want to without having to worry about how others will perceive their behavior.
This is so wonderful! I'm so glad to see the theatre moving toward more and more inclusivity. It really is so important that our art reaches as many people, and all types of people, as possible. I've known people who have a difficult time taking their autistic children out to any kind of event, let alone one that requires silence and attention. We just saw an article, I think, last year on this page about someone whose child was talking or crying out (I don't remember exactly) during a show, and I imagine all the good that a program like this would do for that family. I also love Megan's idea (above) to incorporate sensory-sensitive environments at children's movies. I went to see The Jungle Book last summer in a small theatre in LA where a man's two children were jumping around, dancing, and talking throughout the entire movie. Of course I know nothing about these children or their reasons for being unable to sit still, but I was annoyed with the father for not trying to control them. Maybe that's how they enjoyed movies as a family, though, so there should be an option for them that allows for more activity.
I was really pleased to see this article, because it warms my heart to see that theater companies are still doing everything they can to make theater more accessible for everyone. I think it is great that this company is making this ballet accessible for people on the autism spectrums because I think oftentimes these kinds of performances are too few and far between. I have always thought that theater should be for everyone, no matter who they are or what walk of life they are from, and it is really nice to see that a theater is working to make that idea possible.
This production of the Nutcracker helps to contribute to the constant shift to creating more inclusive and more accessable theatre for audiences who were originally hindered from the theatre. Theatre is often spoken of and seen as this "safe space," but often times it is only presented as one for those who are able to go and afford to see it, however with more productions like Fathom Events' showing of the Nutcracker, we are effectively seeing how the theatre is evolving into the safe space that it claims to be. I hope that other companies will begin to also consider the other autism spectrums as well as others within the disabled community in their audiences as well. By creating a safe space for the parents of children with disabilities, we are also introducing the arts to children of a whole other spectrum.
I’m always happy to see articles about people making theater more accessible. There are a lot of elements of the way theater currently operates that limits who can see it, and the lights, sound, and general expectations of how to behave in a theater are some of those ways. Though ideally everyone would be able to see the show, there are going to be some people who just need different things, maybe even need opposite things. I think modifying the show/ modifying the way audiences are expected to behave for some performances is a good way to make a show/event accessible to more people. I hope this becomes a more common trend, and maybe even eventually becomes standard in the industry. That being said, I do think that when someone decides to make a performances more autism friendly they should make sure to consult people with autism about what changes make sense so they don’t accidentally leave anything in that could cause a problem.
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