On Wednesday, September 23, Kelvin Moon Loh left work frustrated and sad after his performance in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King And I” at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. During the second act of the matinee performance, a child with autism was heard yelling in the audience, which Loh wrote about on his Facebook page.
However, Loh wasn’t airing his feelings of frustration at the child–he was writing about his frustration at the audience’s reaction. According to Loh, audience members grew tired of the child’s cries, and began to call out to the mother and child, which he felt was wrong, stating in his post:
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“This is wrong. Plainly wrong. What [they] didn’t see was a mother desperately trying to do just that. But her son was not compliant. What they didn’t see was a mother desperately pleading with her child as he gripped the railing refusing [and] yelping more out of defiance. I could not look away. I wanted to scream and stop the show and say, ‘Everyone relax. She is trying. Can you not see that she is trying?’
I am in a show that is completely family friendly. ‘The King and I’ on Broadway is just that– family friendly, and that means entire families, with disabilities or not. A night at the theater is special on any night you get to go. And no, I don’t care how much you spent on the tickets.”
Previously, Loh worked as a teacher in an after school program, and in particular, he worked with a student with autism who he has continued to stay close with. As such, speaking out for others, whether with disabilities or not, because of an injustice is something important to Loh. He’s a man after our own heart.
Don’t forget to read Loh’s entire response from his Facebook page below:
I am angry and sad. Just got off stage from today’s matinee and yes, something happened. Someone brought their…
Posted by Kelvin Moon Loh on Wednesday, September 23, 2015
