The Prospector Theater shows its mission, vision, and tenacity through poetic words. Working is Working. Sparkle on, Prospector Theater!
We are The Prospector Theater.
Through the darkest days
And no movies to show
Prospect Street was quiet
No smell of popcorn in the air
The projectors stood hungry and unfed
Quiet on Prospect Street
In the lobby, our chandelier, our symbol of hope,
Lit and sparkling bright,
Giving proof through the night
The Prospector Theater was still here.
2020 was expected to be pure gold.
A calendar on the office wall is frozen in time
Like a relic from Pompeii
A history of the world before the eruption
A calendar for a future that would never be released
Prospector’s course was charted
We were an unsinkable ship.
Big releases, blockbusters, guaranteed hits, record ticket numbers
So many tickets to be sold
Twoud be a record breaking year for jobs
Meaningful employment for adults with disabilities
2020 would be unstoppable goodness.
Then we saw the tip of the iceberg.
We were on the Titanic.
March 13. 2020 is marked in time,
Pink marker X’ed out the day on the calendar:
“The Day the Movies Died”
Prospects were sent home.
There were tears of fear and sadness.
Projectors powered down.
We were opened for 1,940 days straight
Through hurricanes, holidays, snowpocalypse, and bright sunny days
Then we were not.
We love our work.
What would we do?
Prospects love our jobs, our jobs raise our quality of life.
Meaningful employment gave us purpose
We are Prospects, and we did not go gently into the night
Prospects did not go home alone
Powered by sparkle, driven by mission
Zoom and Google Hangouts became our everything
Our lobby, our training room, our production studio
Every Prospect was upskilled in technology
Bravo to these accessible digital platforms
Sparkle shout outs to the Prospects
Creating meaningful virtual work
130 Prospects, 75% self-identifying with disabilities
Work continued, a lifeline
No Prospect was left behind
Together our culture stayed strong
We stayed connected to each other
For work and wellness
Powered by the sparkle
We continued to work
As the studios moved more content to streaming
The movie theater industry was on the brink of collapse
Theaters closed and would not reopen
Prospects never gave up hope.
Our quality of life, our purpose in life, our freedom is our work.
We have always been that sparkly beacon of hope
For those who dream of meaningful employment
A model and resource for employers
Wanting better for their businesses
Following our lead, adding diversity to their workforce
Enjoying the paychecks.
Our sparkle and mission were too good to fail.
We reopened on June 17, 2020 with a screening of Jaws
“Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theater…”
Joe, as Quint, mutton chops, and all,
Greeted the audience with the monologue,
Quint’s monologue, The USS Indianapolis.
We felt like the men in the water, sharks ramming our boat,
Taking theater chains and jobs,with their dead black eyes and shark teeth.
Hundreds of movie theaters were lost, maybe more
In the murky 2020 waters of pain.
Movie Theaters who were the cornerstone of American towns for generations
Have gone dark, victim of the times.
We take off our pink top hats to the theaters who have been lost
Each its own economic, cultural, and personal tragedy.
We stayed open at 1/10 Prospect Power on the floor
Hours of work were lost, shifts cut, Monday through Wednesday the Theater is closed.
What did we do? We leaned in.
We pivoted and controlled the things we could control:
Popcorn Sparkle Boxes, private rentals, Film Festival
Curbside Concessions, a new streaming platform
New initiatives, created new content
And we stayed masked behind plastic protectors
And we washed our hands and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned
Evolve or die. We patched the holes in our ships
we buttoned up and created art at home, zoomed in, together.
We kept our eyes and our hopes on Wonder Woman
She was expected to fly in on her invisible plane and save the day.
She arrived on Christmas day, the same day she went to HBO Max
My heroine since childhood
Even Wonder Woman sold out, and couldn’t save the day.
We Prospects became our own superheroes
Working hard, thinking creatively, focused on outcomes
We had the sparkle power inside us all along
We understood what Glinda told Dorothy
We were wearing the sparkly shoes
And had to figure out the road to Oz on our own.
“You’ve always had the power, Prospects, you just had to learn it for yourselves.”
We had everything we needed in our own backyards
We tapped the trees and made maple sugar popcorn with our own hands.
Prospects are strong warriors
Standing up to challenges
Playing the cards we got dealt
Using adaptive tools and technology to better our hands
Standing up to bullies
Raising expectations
Challenging false stereotypes
Fighting for our rights
Advocating for ourselves
Taking the steep slope up the mountain
Crossing the streets with no curb cuts
Breaking down the doors of unemployment
Untethering ourselves from the chains of labels
Powering through to a higher quality of life for people with disabilities through meaningful employment.
Prospects are forged from metal
Strategies, tools, and supports
Reinforced by the Prospector were enabled
Saving sanity, saving lives, saving quality of life
The hope and dream of sparkle.
Prospects came too far to fail.
Slowly, slowly people came to the movies
You came to see movies
Thank you
You helped give us purpose and hope in the darkest days
Here to support the mission
Thank you moviegoers
Thank you sponsors
Thank you social media engagers
Thank you for buying gift cards
Thank you popcorn and candy buyers
Thank you for showing up for us when you could
It meant the world.
Thank you for giving us the power to keep our sparkle fueled
Thank you Prospects, for standing at your posts, ready
Thank you families and caregivers for your support and encouragement
Thank you donors, we know there are a lot of important causes
Thank you for believing in ours.
There were days we sold zero tickets
Prospect’s fresh popped popcorn
Projectors rolling, Prospects hoping…
Little ticket days are ok, we said, less people, more safety…
These days were painful, but necessary
We had an important mission to fulfill
Prospects remain sharply dressed in uniform
Patiently waiting for you to come in
To escape from the world through our screens
I hope you know the good you did by coming in.
When there is a vaccine when people are ready
When the studios give us content
The ,people will return
We have hope and faith.
“But When?” The Prospects said.
“When the time is right” The Prospects said.
“How will we know the time is right?” The Prospects said.
“We will know, and we will be ready” The Prospects said.
The ushers practiced their speeches
Box Office worked on making change
We read the industry reports and the positivity rates
We kept our minds on the mission and the mission on our minds
The Prospect Band played on.
We Zoomed into schools with all new virtual content
Staying alive, making a living, even thriving
Prospects sparkled on.
We leaned in and dug in
We tried new things
Culture, community, and creativity, our greatest assets
We lost good Prospects along the way
Cutbacks were so drastic, it was hard to hold on.
We pour popcorn and Pepsi products on the ground
For the sparkle lost along the way.
We send hope for recovery
For the health and happiness of the people of the world
For the comeback of the theaters who have powered down.
And, this past weekend, a glimmer of light from above
A rainy saturday, our favorite kind of day
A new movie, “Tom and Jerry”
The moment we were waiting for
The hope that kept the sparkle bright became real,
People came back to the movies!
This picture was taken on Saturday
Look from Prospect to Prospect and bask in our happiness
All the money in the world can’t buy that kind of happiness
We needed to experience the darkness to get to this light
A sold out show (40% capacity)
Let me say that better
A SOLD OUT SHOW!
Meeting, Greeting, Seating
Entertaining, Educating
Laughter, Popcorn, Soda, Candy! Meaningful Work. Paychecks. Purpose.
Quality of Life, Back on the horizon.
A turning point, marked with a pink heart on the calendar, to remember the day we returned on the path to good.
Prospects, families, supporters
I am here to answer your question,“But When?”
Now, it’s happened.
We are alive, the Prospector Theater has survived.
It has been a transformative and brutal year
Our faith in our mission lit the way
The future looks different, not bad, different
Our wings are still wet, and we will learn to fly again
In our wonderful new world.
People will emerge from the heart of darkness
More empathetic
We’ve all personally sampled ‘disability’ in our own way
The steep mountain of challenges many Prospects have forged for life
And our mission is more important than ever.
When you are ready to come back to the movies
Look for our beacon of light, and we will brighten your path.
Prospects are at our posts
ready to welcome you back out into the world
When you are ready.
If it’s too soon for you to step back inside, look through our windows
Follow our route on social media
Connect with us, we want to hear from you.
Our sparkle power led us through the darkness,
And we are here to light up your path.