Hello,
Dream travelers,
And welcome to the Story Nexus.
Tonight,
You will be falling asleep in an old theater.
It's called the Paramount.
There are many Paramounts across the country,
And this one is one of the oldest.
Before you enter,
We'll need to prepare you for your dream journey.
If you haven't already,
Find a comfortable place to lie down,
Where you can sleep for the rest of the night.
As you lay there,
Begin to breathe quite deeply,
And allow the breath to exhale smoothly,
Without effort,
And then in without forcing it,
And then exhale just letting it go.
Find a rhythm of breathing in and out,
And allow any tension or extraneous thoughts to just leave on the exhale.
Allow the body to come down from the day,
And be here right now,
Ready for rest.
You're starting to feel warm,
And your body is getting heavy.
The bed is feeling more and more comfortable to sink into.
Your head and neck are well-supported on the pillow,
And are sinking a little more deeply into it.
Now,
We want your mind to be free from the past day's events.
We also want you to be free of worries of the next day,
For right now.
You will be entering the beautiful old theater known as the Paramount.
There is a large chaise lounge waiting for you on a balcony in there.
The caretaker is expecting you.
You are very welcome,
And you are the only guest tonight.
See yourself standing in front of the old theater of the Paramount.
The marquee has letters that spell out,
Now playing a great night's rest.
Exactly what you are looking for.
You make your way to the front doors and pull them open,
And you immediately enter the lobby.
To the right is the concession stand.
To your left is a small booth where tickets are taken.
There is no one there right now.
In front of you,
Off to the left,
Is a wide staircase leading up to the second floor.
Directly in front of you,
On the opposite side of the lobby,
Is the theater.
There is only one in this building.
It's quite large.
It can hold nearly a thousand people.
The caretaker is sweeping up behind the concession stand counter.
He looks up and sees you and smiles.
He's been looking forward to greeting you and showing you exactly where you'll be staying tonight.
There is an old radio sitting on the counter of the concession.
The caretaker moves over to turn down the volume a bit.
He makes a big gesture and points you towards the door of the theater and then walks toward it.
You begin walking as well.
You enter the theater area and stand and look at the stage.
There is a screen there,
But it's currently hidden behind large red velvet curtains.
They only open when the film is played.
The caretaker stands off to the right a little so that you can take in the full experience of this empty theater.
It feels very private and mostly silent,
Except for the dull hum of the central air and heating unit.
You immediately find it somewhat trance-inducing.
You can feel your body relax a little bit more.
Your shoulders drop away from your ears,
Your neck loosens,
And your hips somehow loosen and open up.
Next,
The caretaker points you to your left.
There is a doorway.
The caretaker moves to open the door and behind it is a set of stairs.
He takes you in and you go up to the balcony on the left side of the theater.
As you walk onto the balcony,
You're surprised to see just how big it is while you're standing there.
From the theater side,
It looks much smaller.
You look out onto the empty theater space and see the hundreds of seats flipped up and waiting for the next audience to arrive.
Tonight,
Though,
This theater is just for you.
There is a chair by the railing of the balcony,
And if you wanted to,
You could sit and look out onto the empty theater all night long.
However,
There is a large,
Wide chaise lounge just behind the curtains,
Out of sight from the main theater.
Beyond that is the door back out to the stairway.
The caretaker smiles and wishes you a good night.
He will be finishing his chores out front and will be gone in the next few hours.
If there's anything you need,
He will be there for you.
In the meantime,
You have complete privacy.
You take a seat in that chair by the balcony and have a closer look at this beautiful old theater.
It is clearly built for great acoustics.
The ceiling is very high and it's been painted in an array of colors with intricate designs.
There are moldings which have been embedded to create a lovely Victorian design all throughout the ceiling.
The designs have colors that are red and blue and even a bit of pink and aqua.
The lights are dim and the ceiling gives off a slight glow.
On the stage,
The huge red velvet curtains hide the movie screen and they fall from nearly the top of the ceiling all the way down to the stage.
They are grand and very heavy looking.
You can imagine actors on that stage before movies were invented.
And you're right,
There were.
Many stage productions were held in the Paramount Theater.
The invention of film projection began at the turn of the 20th century.
Theaters around the country had been converted to film theaters.
Many silent movies were played here and even mini news documentaries.
Film producers would gather film from around the country or even around the world to compile news clips for local audiences.
At the time,
This was one of the most common ways for people to discover what was happening in other parts of the world and around the country.
You can almost see the men and women sitting in those seats watching the news.
Your eyes begin to feel very heavy and you are ready to experience that chaise lounge.
It is the perfect size for you.
It's wide enough to be comfortable and very solid.
It's well padded.
You can easily turn over in it.
There are several fluffy pillows there for you to use and a nice thick blanket.
You pull the curtains shut on the balcony and on the theater itself.
You are now in complete darkness.
There is not a bit of light coming into this small area.
The door frame is perfectly solid and the curtains are blackout curtains.
The blackness feels so comforting.
You notice the sounds in the lobby,
The hum of the air and heating system.
All of it feels so soothing and you know you'll get a great night's rest here.
Adjusting yourself on the chaise lounge,
You feel as if it was made for you.
The way it supports you in your body.
The black is so total.
It brings you down deeper into yourself,
Relaxes you more deeply.
You feel tension leaving.
You know you have total privacy,
Total safety.
This is the perfect environment to dream great dreams.
An old,
Empty theater,
The Paramount,
Which has been home to countless audiences and thousands and thousands of actors over so many years dancing and emoting on stage,
Dancing and emoting on screen.
Real human beings living out make-believe,
As humans do,
Igniting everyone's imagination,
Expanding their consciousness.
Audiences watch actors to be inspired,
To be intrigued,
To gain a sense of,
Maybe I can,
Yes,
Yes,
I can try that and I will be successful.
In return,
Actors get to feel a sense of satisfaction that they have conveyed something,
That they have affected their fellow human beings,
That maybe,
Just a little bit,
They have improved their lives,
Given them something positive to take with them once the show ends.
You ponder this thought as you lie there,
Sinking even more deeply into this overstuffed chaise lounge,
So comfortable,
So dark,
And so much on your own right now in this moment,
Yet feeling surrounded by the souls of actors and audience members of days past.
It all feels so comforting.
The caretaker in the lobby doing his work.
This old building that stood for so many generations.
It's time for you to let go completely,
Succumb to sleep,
And dream magnificent dreams.
Good night,
Dream traveler.
