Broadway Theatre marquee providing inspiration during COVID-19 pandemic

Wash your hands, love each other.

Those simple words started a local viral sensation when members of the Broadway Theatre board of directors replaced upcoming show announcements on the theatre’s marquee with a message.

With love,
from your community-owned Broadway Theatre. pic.twitter.com/0sg4lWzbKF

— Broadway Theatre (@bwaytheatre) March 14, 2020

Since then, thousands of people are either passing by or checking out the theatre’s social media channels to see weekly inspirational messages and quotes.

Executive director Kirby Wirchenko never imagined the brief words displayed on the marquee would become a beacon of hope in the community. He was just doing his job.

“It came from a bit of a feeling that people generally expect more from us,” Wirchenko said. “None of my managers or I are special people. But for some reason when we got to work, we feel beholden to something a little bit higher and we want to do something really good.”

Those sentiments were behind a thought on March 13, the day before the theatre ceased operations and laid off its staff. Wirchenko knew that COVID-19 would destroy the community-owned theatre’s business model that revolves strictly around bringing people together. The theatre would remain empty, but that didn’t mean the marquee would follow suit.

“It feels like people kind of look to us. We do things for the right reasons. It’s a feel good place, right?” Wirchenko said of that discussion with his peers.

“Instead of feeling put upon or singled out or feeling sad for ourselves, we just felt like this is one of those small, little things we can do that doesn’t cost us anything but a bit of time, and hopefully people will find some inspiration.”

Wirchenko sees Broadway Theatre’s longstanding tradition in the community of gathering people as a worthwhile endeavour that can continue in a virtual sense during a pandemic that has stopped any form of public gathering.

The venue brings in roughly 80,000 people a year for its various shows, viewings and productions. Roughly a dozen weddings are held there each year. Its following isn’t as small as people might think and many of its supporters are vocal, with a personal connection to the building.

Wirchenko pointed to its history of more than 6,000 people a week entering the building to watch films in the ’50s. That’s roughly 15 sellouts for the venue.

“People tell us all the time how important the place is,” Wirchenko said. “Sometimes we believe them.”

Coming up with the phrases and quotes is a small collaborative effort from volunteers and members of the board. It’s setting up and displaying the letters that becomes the difficult part.

“On a Thursday when it’s blowing 60 km/h winds and it’s grey out and you’re up by yourself on a ladder, it feels pretty isolated. There’s some desolation to it,” Wirchenko said, mentioning that the positive messages and profound impact they may have on a person are lost in those moments.

“None of it feels like a big deal to me. It’s just part of the job.”

The outreach is clearly getting plenty of attention as well. Kirchenko says Broadway Theatres’ Twitter engagements have shot up to between 10, 000 and 12,000 over the past month, with an average of 3,000 to 5,000 visits on any given day.

Wirchenko insists the marquee would be doing the same thing if 16 people enjoyed it, but knowing that people are turning to the marquee for even the smallest source of inspiration or distraction is part of his civic duty.

“We’ve used the marquee to do messaging before, but this is just such an obvious time where it was required,” Wirchenko said.

“It just feels like we’re doing something we need to do.”