Susannah Webster - In the Dark

Susannah Webster, Owner, Operator, and bright light at The Porcupine Theater, Homer, Alaska

It’s a good thing Susannah Webster is not afraid of heights. 

Susannah runs The Porcupine Theater in Homer, Alaska. The Porcupine is a small-town movie theater, the type of place where the owner pops the popcorn, writes the ad campaign, and shovels the front walk before films. “I have to climb out the upstairs window and go out onto the roof to change the letters on the marquee,” she says. Like many of the chores she performs to keep The Porcupine running, Susannah is undaunted by that climb. “I kind of like it up there,” she offers. “I can see what’s happening in town. “

Susannah has long kept an eye on the steel-sided building she now owns. Owning a movie theater in a town of 6000 people was not originally in her sights, but Susannah grew up watching movies in the old Homer Theater, and she watched as the previous owners ran out of steam. “The building had been for sale for a dozen years,” she says, with no offers. “It was obvious it wasn’t going to last.”

As a real estate agent, Susannah thought she could add some oomph, some marketing polish, and pitch it to just the right person. “It was a cold, slow November,” she says, and “I was self-employed, with long stretches at home. I imagined what it could be!” As the winter weeks passed, she and her partner, Nate, decided they were what the theater needed. “We need to do this,” she concluded, “nobody else will.” 

Growing up in Homer, Susannah never thought she’d spend her adult years here, running this or any business. “After high school, I moved away and didn’t look back,” she says.  “I love cities! I’ve lived in some really great cities. I moved back for my mom and her health.”

Susannah came home and set down roots in Homer, this time as a parent and entrepreneur. “My daughter was 2 when I came back, so I opened a daycare.” Susannah wanted to add value and extract a living where she could. “I could work and mom at the same time,” she says. When her children were older, Susannah re-invented again: she joined her dad developing land as one half of the construction duo, Webster and Daughter; she sold fish; got her real estate license. “Every job I’ve had has been community-focused, in a way.”

The aging Homer Theater, to Susannah, had been - and could be again - the center of community. “Homer is a unique place,” she offers. “You get to take up as much space as you want; you can create the kind of community you want.” She continues: “It’s more work, it’s harder than just plugging into an existing community in a city. There are lots of options, but here you have to create those opportunities. It’s wonderful and challenging.”

The theater spoke to Susannah and her interest in building community. “It is essential, crucial, to have public spaces where people can gather,” she asserts. “We don’t have enough of that. For people who go to church, there is church. For everyone else,” she pauses, “there isn’t another opportunity.” Her voice strengthens: “Technology isolates us. Our busyness separates us. It is something to sit in a crowd and be part of a different world for an hour-and-a-half with others.” She then chooses a metaphor from her childcare days: “A movie theater is a safe space if you want to be with others but not BE with others; like toddler parallel play! You sit side-by-side, you hear laughs, sighs.” She takes a long draw on her coffee, swallows: “I’ll give you an example. I never was a big horror movie fan. But now, I love showing horror movies in the theater! The jump scares, the eeks. The collective surprise contributes to the experience, to sharing something together in a group.” 

Susannah remembers how important the theater was to her in her teenage years in Homer.   “I saw ‘Titanic’ here, ‘Batman,’ ‘Event Horizon’ – that one was terrible, I walked out – and Claire Danes in ‘Romeo & Juliet’.”  Susannah points to the back corner of the re-vamped Porcupine. “That’s where the make out corner was.” Meaningful cultural real estate that Susannah decided to keep when she began the remodel. “And the spit wads are still on the ceiling!” she says, pointing up. “It was important to me that we not disturb the spit wads.”  They are a reminder, she says, and an invitation: “We need the teenagers to come back. They are starting to come back.”

Before buying the theater, Susannah did her homework. “We knew that we had to diversify the content shown here,” she says, “offering lots of different kinds of shows, including live shows, and incentivizing people to come out of their homes, to come downtown, to say ‘Yes!’ and join us.” Simply showing first-run movies no longer makes a theater profitable – there is too much competition from in-home and hand-held, on-demand movies. The ease of technology makes getting up and getting out into the world hard. Susanna had to get creative. And she had to make it affordable: “We serve a diverse community. We want all income levels to participate.”

The Porcupine operates a monthly membership model, not unlike a streaming service, to keep revenue consistent. Individuals, elders, military/first responders, and families can purchase a sliding-fee monthly pass between $20 and $45 to access all movies screened in that month. Considering a single ticket to a first-run film can cost $15, it’s a good value. “It’s a revenue model that works in other communities,” Susannah says. “Some people love the value of unlimited movie viewing. Others simply support our mission and only see a handful of shows all year.” Of course, patrons can purchase tickets for single shows, too. “People want to be part of something that is successful,” Susannah says. “We have been flexible and modified terms and practice as we’ve gone along. We want a version of this theater that works for this community.”

The new physical space of The Porcupine is also a point of pride to Susannah. “We have designed it to use the space to its full capacity,” she notes. “We invested money and time into making the space beautiful, and multi-purpose.” That means comfortable seats with wide access down and across aisles. Couches, homey fixtures in the old Homer Theater, are still up front for families to cuddle on, with run-round room for wiggly little ones during Saturday cartoon hour. Bar seating and high-top tables populate the back of the theater, very “cocktail lounge vibe.” The stage is broad and can host a good-sized live band. “There is no live music venue in Homer!” Susannah emphasizes, with arms raised. “Now there is.”

Before The Porcupine’s debut in January of 2025, the theater space got the full glow up. Susannah knocked down walls, added brighter light fixtures and color (that glossy purple on the ceiling!), displayed new and vintage art, and enlarged (and fancified) the theater’s bathrooms. She also added nostalgia: The red velvet curtains at the proscenium are re-purposed from the Homer High School’s Mariner Theater remodel a few years back. “I had heard they were in storage,” she says. “They were in such good shape! It is just such a boon that we got them.” The black velvet curtains that line The Porcupine’s side walls were also cast-offs from other theaters. “They were so heavy and wrinkly,” Susannah says, “I had to cut them, hem them, staple them to the walls like a giant soft sculpture.” The black curtains came with some history: “When we opened them,” Susannah laughs, “glitter from their previous life just exploded out.” 

Aside from showing new and vintage films, staging live music, live-streaming international and tournament sports on the big screen, and hosting community events, The Porcupine, after just one year in operation, is still gathering steam. “The other day,” Susannah recounts, “while meeting with parents planning the high school senior night that will be held here, I had someone say, ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been in yet! It’s so great. I’ll be back!’ That tells me we have room to grow, that we haven’t exhausted our audience yet.”

This summer, a season when Homer normally bustles with tourists and activity draws people toward the mountains, the beach, and day-long adventure on the water and across Kachemak Bay, Susannah has another idea to get patrons in the seats of The Porcupine.  “I’m unveiling a Wednesday night series titled ‘Civics 101.’ It’s our country’s 250th birthday!” Her voice crackles with excitement: “We are inviting professors to give lectures on the Constitution, democracy, the history of America, government, our citizen responsibilities.” Balancing impresario with realist, Susannah laughs, “I will pray for rain on Wednesdays!” Short of that, she notes, “July days are really long here. People can get overwhelmed by the sunshine. So, the theater - for all of us - the dark theater will be a good change.”

Concession Stand and refreshed lobby at The porcupine

Resources: The Porcupine Theater: https://porcupinetheater.com/

Photos: Tracy Nordstrom