Babylon Theater responds to ‘disappointing’ autistic aide’s experience

BABYLON VILLAGE, N.Y. — The Babylon Village theater company is reacting to negative critics who claim she and an autistic client were disrespectfully removed from a performance.

Jennifer Nadeau, an aide to people with autism, wrote on social media that she and her client went to see a performance of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Argyle Theater on Wednesday.

Nadeau said she and her client were evicted from the building, but the theater refuted her story, saying her post contained falsehoods.

In Nadeau’s post, she claimed that about 30 minutes into the show, an employee asked Nadeau and her client, a young man, to leave because they were “laughing too much.”

“No warning. No, just be quiet. Nothing,” Nadeau said.

An employee then led the pair to another space near a souvenir stand and a TV broadcasting the program.

“After about 10 minutes of not hearing or seeing the TV clearly, my client looked at me and said, ‘I’m ready, Jennifer.’

Nadeau then asked the employee for his name and contact information for the customer’s mother.

“She was reluctant to provide her information and clarified that she would not give refunds but could give credit to come back to the theater.” I told her how I felt and reminded her that we cannot discriminate against people with disabilities.”

She claimed that when the pair left the theater, the employee who told us to leave would go outside and offer seats to the orchestra so they could return to the play.

Nadeau’s post received over 600 comments, and many people were shocked to hear of her treatment.

“This is regrettable and shameful,” one person wrote.

One parent said, “As the mother of a child with a physical disability, I am disgusted.”

On Friday, the Argyll Theater hit back at Nadeau’s post, saying it contained “false information” based on its own research.

Around 3:30pm, there were “numerous reports of individuals consistently causing a lot of disturbance” in the balcony section.

“Shortly afterwards, the manager approached the party and told the aide, who understood that he was doing everything he could to deal with the explosion, to keep the noise to a minimum so as not to disrupt the audience or the performance further. I asked politely and respectfully,” they said. “At this point, the companion accompanying the young man stated that he could not control it and would probably have to leave at that point.”

The manager said she hadn’t asked Nadeau and her clients to leave, but that she could watch the show from the monitors in the lounge “if it makes the party more comfortable.”

The pair went to the lounge and then “voluntarily” headed for the exit door.

“The manager approached the party and again offered additional options to continue watching the performance. This made the companions very emotional and kept accusing the manager of kicking them out.”

The manager “calmly and respectfully” replied that it was not, and reiterated that he wanted him to stay to enjoy the show.

“Our team tried over and over again to get this young man to stay and enjoy the performance.”The group was never asked to leave the performance. Although every effort was made to help accommodate them so that they could stay and enjoy the performance, the companion voluntarily left with the young man.”

The theater also said it was in contact with the young man’s family.

The theater post received over 190 comments on social media.

A former aide attended Wednesday’s performance with her granddaughter and shared her own experience in the comments.

“We were seated right across the aisle where the aide was sitting with this young man. Through no fault of his own, the laughter was often very loud. Theater,” he said.

Patch has reached out to both Jennifer Nadeau and the Argyle Theater for comment.