The 5 DE SEPTIEMBRE 2010 - La Prensa De San Antonio

10-E La Prensa de San Antonio
septiembre 5, 2010
Santikos opens its doors
for special needs kids
By Cristina Blackwell
cblackwell@laprensasa.com
On September 7, special needs
children will be able to do something
that for many of them was
impossible until recently: go to
the movies. They’ll see Nanny
McPhee Returns at the Santikos
Embassy 14 Theatre. Lights will
be brighter, the volume will be
lowered, the movie will start
promptly at 6 p.m. with shorter
previews, and if the kids yell or
even stroll around the theater,
no one will complain.
Santikos Theatres and Eva’s
Heroes joined forces to create
Eva’s Heroes Special Presentations.
The program was created
to provide a welcoming
and comfortable movie going
experience in an environment
designed for families of specialneeds
children with autism or
other challenges who seldom
attend movies.
“We are thrilled to be able to
offer a movie going experience
to an audience that may not
have been able to enjoy going
to the movies in the past,” said
Alexis Smith, senior marketing
manager at Santikos Theatres.
Here’s the best part: it’s free
admission to guests with intellectual
special needs.
Eva’s Heroes Special Presentations
will feature family
friendly titles the first and third
Tuesday of every month. The
auditorium will be open for seating
at 5:30 p.m. and the special
presentation will begin at 6 p.m.
The idea for the films first
came about in 2007 when Marianne
Ross, of Elkridge, Maryland,
and her then seven-yearold
daughter Meaghan, who has
autism, were asked to leave the
theater because Meagan was a
distraction to the other patrons.
It’s relatively a new concept
that is getting great reviews.
Sensory-friendly films are not
about what films are chosen –it’s
about the atmosphere. Many
children, especially those with
autism, need to be in a “no
pressure environment” and now,
thanks to Santikos Theaters and
Eva’s Heroes, special needs
children can enjoy movies in
the theater.
Success is sweet: the sweeter if long delayed and
attained through manifold struggles and defeats.
A. Branson Alcott