BC/EFA Presents Free Advance Screening of WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY, 3/16

Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS will host a special free advance screening of WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY, the highly anticipated new film, on Tuesday, March 16 at 7:30 PM at The Directors Guild of America (110 West 57th Street). Immediately after the screening, there will be a discussion featuring the film's director Don Hahn and producer Peter Schneider. The discussion will be moderated by Patrick Pacheco, who conducted interviews for the film.

To book tickets to this free event, please visit http://www.broadwaycares.org/Page.aspx?pid=781.

Tickets are on a first come, first serve basis. Once the screening is full, no additional requests for tickets will be accepted.

WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY is a behind-the-scenes look at the decade that saw the transcendent resurrection of animation giant Walt Disney Studios. Hahn and Schneider, key players at Walt Disney Studios Feature Animation during the mid 1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the Animation Studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next ten years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box office flops, and warring studio heads create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those who were there.

Through internal memos, home movies, and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Don Bluth, John Lasseter and Tim Burton, WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY shines a light on Disney Animation's darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance.
WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY will open Friday, March 26 at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema (143 East Houston Street). To see a preview of the film, CLICK HERE.

BC/EFA would like to thank Peter Schneider, Thomas Schumacher, Stone Circle Pictures, and Red Shoes Productions for making this screening possible.

Since 1994, the extraordinarily generous support of Disney Theatrical Productions has played a major role in Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' success and its ability to fulfill its mission.

The story of the creation of the animated films Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King as told in the documentary WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY is the genesis of what became the acclaimed Tony Award winning Broadway incarnations of these beloved tales. Ironically it was the move in the mid 1980s of one of Broadway's most promising composer and lyricist team, Alan Menkin and the late Howard Ashman, into animation with Disney that sparked the remarkable renaissance of the once fabled animation studios and would, a decade later, launch the extraordinary success of Disney Theatrical Productions on Broadway.

For the last 16 years, the theatrical companies of these three acclaimed musicals - Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King, along with the Disney Theatrical Productions of Aida, Tarzan and Mary Poppins - have raised millions of dollars for BC/EFA and helped tens of thousands of people facing the challenges of HIV/AIDS and other serious health issues and social concerns.

This special screening for BC/EFA's "Angels" and our friends and supporters in the Broadway community is presented in memory of Howard Ashman who died of AIDS related complications in 1991. We remember his genius as a librettist, playwright and director and salute him for the brilliant work that has made so much of our work on behalf of people with AIDS possible.

ABOUT BC/EFA
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised over $175 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

BC/EFA is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors' Fund - including The AIDS Initiative, The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, The Dancers' Resource and three supportive housing residences. BC/EFA also awards annual grants to over 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.

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