Massive Umbrella Pageant celebrates neurodiverse artists

The Massive Umbrella Pageant returns to Lincoln Middle this April — welcoming children, teenagers, adults, and their households for 3 weekends of free and Select-What-You-Pay programming, designed with and for neurodiverse audiences.

Now in its seventh iteration, this yr options an expanded array of occasions from artists internationally, various in age-range and style, and welcomes the Massive Umbrella Pageant’s first-ever Spanish language efficiency: Teatro La Plaza’s Hamlet, a daring reimagining of Shakespeare’s timeless work that includes a solid of actors with Down syndrome.

Launched in 2018, the Massive Umbrella Pageant was the primary large-scale performing arts competition of its variety, centering audiences with autism and different developmental disabilities by providing distinctive approaches to sensory-based and interactive creative experiences — and sharing these learnings with the sector worldwide.

“Entry to the humanities for all is core to what drives our work right here at Lincoln Middle,” stated Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Creative Officer of Lincoln Middle for the Performing Arts. “We’re proud to proceed increasing the Massive Umbrella Pageant, assembly neurodiverse audiences the place they’re and embracing a mess of the way to interact with the humanities. Our learnings from this vital work proceed, as we weave many of those engagement ideas into our choices year-round. We’re grateful to proceed this work with so many gifted collaborators from all over the world.”

Every version of the competition has returned with expanded choices for hundreds of New Yorkers throughout in-person, digital, and out of doors occasions and installations.

Highlights embrace:

• The U.S. premiere of When the World Turns, an immersive and participatory collaboration from Polyglot Theatre (Australia) and Oily Cart (UK) inviting audiences to discover a wondrous panorama of foliage, gentle, sounds and shadows (April 4-6 and 11-13)

• Esrawe + Cadena (Mexico) carry their fascinating out of doors set up, Los Trompos, to Damrosch Park — inviting households to relaxation, play, and interact with eight colourful and larger-than-life spinning tops (April 4-6, 9-13, and 16-20)

• Digital Crip Motion Lab, a workshop for all disabled folks and their non-disabled accomplices, and an thrilling night of standup comedy, each offered in collaboration with the ReelAbilities Movie Pageant (April 3-4)

• A melodious introduction into the world of chamber music and its devices with CMS Youngsters: Transferring Music — the place audiences can expertise how an ensemble works collectively by lively listening, motion, and call-and-response actions (April 5)

• The U.S. Premiere of The Sticky Dance for Sensory Groovers, an interactive dance efficiency co-created by Rosie Heafford and Takeshi Matsumoto of Second Hand Dance (England), encouraging audiences to freely discover a colourful tapestry of sticky tape on this tactile, participatory expertise (April 11-13)

• E.P.I.C. Gamers returns to campus to current a pattern of their 2025 season, shining a lightweight on neurodiverse expertise by music, theater and dance performances (April 12)

• The New York premiere of Hamlet by Teatro La Plaza (Peru), a joyful and enigmatic reimagining of Shakespeare’s timeless work carried out in Spanish (with English captions) by a solid of actors with Down syndrome (April 19)

• Indoor visible artwork stations led by Lincoln Middle’s training crew and instructing artists (April 11-13)

• Out of doors inventive exercise stations impressed by the Los Trompos set up led by Lincoln Middle’s training crew and instructing artists (April 4-6, 9-13, and 16-20)