In December, we ran a contest on Neapolitan Family’s Facebook page for free tickets to a sensory-friendly performance of “Miracle on 34th Street” by the Naples Players. The response from one of the four winners was so heart-warming that we had to share it. Naples Players’ next sensory-friendly perfor- mance will be of The Music Man on March 20, 2018.
Dear Neapolitan Family,
Having never taken Abigail to a play, due to the fact that her focus and concern for noise has always been on our minds, we really didn’t know what to expect. Last night, from the moment we walked in, we knew this was going to be a good experience for the entire family.
The Naples Players’ staff were amazing and made it very clear to everyone as they walked in that this was a sensory-friendly production. Everyone was given an infor-mation guide on what would happen – lights left on but lower, being able to move about, and that this was a ‘no clap’ performance. This allowed me as a parent to relax and know that my daughter and our family would not be judged by anyone.
The theater had set up a ‘quiet’ area and had noise-reducing earphones available. Despite Abigail wanting some, we decided that if needed we would get them during the performance (we didn’t need them).
Along with the above accommodations, when we went into the theater we could sit wherever we wanted and we could move around if we needed. The fact that only about a third of seats were sold (Editor’s Note: The theater limits tickets to sensory-friendly performances) made it a lot easier, knowing we would have to get up and move at some stage; which we did, but for once, I didn’t have to care about how many times we got up and moved, as I knew we were not going to get ‘tutted’ at.
Abigail loved it all, got very excited to see the orchestra, and then to see Santa for the first time on stage, and just watching the performance. I spent a lot of time watching her expressions of joy and we danced a lot in our seats during some of the songs.
As a family we had a great evening. The performance was great, and kudos to the actors and actresses, as it really must be strange for them with the house lights up and no clapping.
Thank you to Neapolitan Family Magazine for making this happen for us as a family and for making us aware of the sensory-friendly productions. But, most of all, thank you to Naples Players for providing us with a ‘no judge’ zone, where we can go as a family and enjoy something that we feel we would not have been able to do.
This performance let Abigail experience something that we would have been leery to do and hopefully will now give her the confidence and reduce her stress levels to maybe attend another performance. We look forward to going again to the next sensory performance.
Thanks again,
Victoria Konopik