Wonka and the Prospector

 After a sleepover for the granddaughters, we went to see Wonka at the Prospector Theater.

Wonka is a new movie that is a prequel to the Roald Dahl book and movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  The girls' verdict is that the movie is great.

The Prospector is a wonderful theater with multiple movie screens.  It opened in 2014 when rescued from demolition by Valerie Jensen, a visionary who saw the theater as a way of providing paid employment for adults with disabilities.  (This is Valerie, whom I spotted in the lobby after the show.)

At least 75 percent of the Prospector's employees self-identify as disabled.  They are called "Prospects,"  they are paid for working at the Prospector, and they "Sparkle."  

This artwork -- the message "Sparkle On" constructed with colorful buttons -- recalls a noted lawsuit against the State of Rhode Island for having unpaid disabled adults spend days sorting buttons into containers, then emptying the containers so the disabled adults would do it again the next day.