Jay Glaus leaned back on a chain-link fence near the spot where screen one slopes down into screen three, far away from the speakers playing that night’s movie to a near-empty lot.

It was a Thursday night, and rainy.

The few cars parked to see “Toy Story” that night watched through windshield wipers, catching Buzz Lightyear and Woody between raindrops.

Mr. Glaus — the general manager of the Dependable Drive-In theater, son of the theater’s longtime owner Rick — wore a gray Steelers T-shirt and had his hand glued to a black walkie-talkie.

It’d been dark for hours, and Mr. Glaus’ sunglasses were pushed up into his hair — the better to look out over the setting of his childhood: a balding grassy lot, speaker poles, the original concession stand and a gigantic aluminum screen.

The Dependa

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