Big Umbrella Festival

From April 3–20, 2025, Big Umbrella Festival welcomes kids, teens, and adults for a dynamic series of programming over three weekends, designed with and for neurodiverse audiences. Audiences can design their own festival weekend by booking tickets below to individual events. Polyglot Theatre and Oily Cart present When the World Turns, an immersive theatrical experience that celebrates the senses, inviting audiences into a wondrous landscape of foliage, light, sounds, and shadows. Peruvian theater company Teatro La Plaza reinvents Shakespeare’s Hamlet into a joyful and enigmatic production where the stories of people with Down syndrome take center stage. Young children and families are invited to explore, move, and create with Second Hand Dance’s The Sticky Dance: For Sensory Groovers and at the participatory Magical Miniature World Workshop. Plus, the renowned ReelAbilities Film Festival—the largest festival in the world dedicated to films by and about people with disabilities—returns with a comedy night; and the Chamber Music Society offers two relaxed CMS Kids musical events, created for children with autism and sensory disorders. Find more events for Kids, Teens, and Families throughout the year!

 
 

Build Your Own Festival

April 19 at 2:00 pm

Big Umbrella Festival
Kids, Teens, and Families

Hamlet

By Teatro La Plaza

Lincoln Center Presents

April 19 at 2:00 pm

Alice Tully Hall

In this retelling of Shakespeare performed in Spanish, the stories of people with Down syndrome take center stage.

April 19 at 7:30 pm

Big Umbrella Festival
Kids, Teens, and Families

Hamlet

By Teatro La Plaza

Lincoln Center Presents

April 19 at 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall

In this retelling of Shakespeare performed in Spanish, the stories of people with Down syndrome take center stage.

Thanks to Our Supporters

Lead support for educational programming is provided by Anonymous

Support for the Big Umbrella Festival is provided by The Taft Foundation, Esme Usdan and James Snyder, New York City Council Member Gale Brewer, and by public funds facilitated by New York City Council’s Autism Awareness Initiative