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.

Sparkle On!