When theaters are closed and dark (as in a pandemic), they keep a "ghost light" on. I suppose it's to make it easier to find the things that have to be turned back on when they reopen. Somehow the phrase "ghost light" stuck in the back of my mind after reading the NYTimes article. I didn't want to paint a real theater with a real ghost light, but did want to convey what the words meant to me, the hope that everything would get turned back on.