On September 23rd, during a Broadway performance of "The King and I" Broadway, a young boy with autism reacted loudly to a scene, drawing negative reactions from other audience members.
After stepping off stage, ensemble member and understudy Kelvin Moon Loh took to Facebook to write about what had happened, but not in the way many people may have expected. Instead of being angry at the autistic boy and his mother, Loh was more upset about how the other audience members handled the situation. While some may see a performance as just something you pay a lot of money to see, Loh believes that theater is for everyone, including those with disabilities.
A child was heard yelping during a scene where one of the characters was being whipped as punishment for her crimes against the king, the actor said. Loh even remembers another young audience member at an earlier performance who responded loudly to the same scene, but no one made a formal complaint. It’s not often a show is stopped because of the audience, and the company did its best to keep the show going. While finishing the show, Loh was still thinking about what had happened.
"I barely had my costume off and I was upset,'' Loh told TODAY.com about the incident. "I felt like I had to say something. It's just about having some kind of compassion, walking in their shoes and seeing how difficult it is to be in that position.”
Loh’s post was picked up almost immediately by major outlets such as Playbill and The New York Times eventually going viral, even trending on Facebook. The story spread to many news outlets and several autism groups have spoken out in support and thanks for the actor’s words.
In the comments of his post, Loh adds that he even heard a man yell for someone to “get rid of that kid” from the other side of the theater. The mother allegedly tried, but her son refused to leave his seat.
"I applaud [Loh] for reaching out to the public that way and I applaud the mother. I think in the end we'll have to have these little painful stepping stones in order pave the road,” Carrie Cariello said, the author and blogger of, "What Color is Monday?" is also the mother of an 11-year-old autistic boy.
In response to the outpouring of support for his post and those dealing with autism in their families, Loh has started a blog called Theatre Matters, and also takes part in the Theatre Development Fund’s Autism Theatre Initiative. This initiative of TDF is specifically designed for children with autism and their families, making slight changes to shows in an effort to be autism-friendly.
While concluding his Facebook post, Loh asked, “...when did we as theater people, performers and audience members become so concerned with our own experience that we lose compassion for others?”
You can read Loh’s full post here.
