Monday, September 9, 2024

Up Next: Hunting for Vampires on a School Night: A Live Reading of Buffy the Vampire Slayer


Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its live movie readings with Hunting for Vampires on a School Night: A live reading of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie) on Wednesday, September 25, 2024. 

Join us at 7 p.m. at Black Eagle Club (1938 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60613), as we spike the punch at the senior dance and then join together to burn down that high school gym full of vampires.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 American comedy vampire film (that predates the TV series). Blonde, bouncy Buffy (played in this incarnation by Kristy Swanson) is your typical high school cheerleader — her goal is to "marry Christian Slater and die" and nothing gets in her way when it's time to shop. But all that changes when a strange man informs her she's been chosen by fate to kill vampires. Buffy is soon spending school nights protecting L.A. from Lothos, the Vampire King and his determined gang of bloodsuckers. 

The reading is directed by John Gleason Teske.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season.

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Ghostlight Announces Cast for 'Alabama Story'

Clockwise from upper left: Tom Goodwin, Maria Burnham, Scott Olson,
Khnemu Menu-Ra, Haley Basil and Justin Broom.


Ghostlight Ensemble is pleased to announce the cast of Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones – the company’s first mainstage show since the global COVID-19 Pandemic brought arts organizations and productions around the world to a halt in 2020.The talented ensemble cast has a tremendous level of experience in both the theatre and film scene and will bring their talents to the stage starting in late September.

“This cast is truly fantastic, and I cannot wait to see the excellent performances that are sure to elevate an already meaty, timely script,” Robison said.

The cast includes two Ensemble Members, Co-Artistic Director Justin Broom as Thomas Franklin and Maria Burnham as Emily Wheelock Reed. Rounding out the cast is Scott Olson as Garth Williams, Tom Goodwin as Sen. E.W. Higgins, Khnemu Menu-Ra as Joshua Moore and Haley Basil as Lily Whitfield. Understudies include Adrian Campbell, Mary Jordan, Allison McCorkle and Derek Preston Ray. Ensemble Member and Co-Artistic Director Holly Robison directs.

Alabama Story is a fictional play based on very real events that took place in 1950s Alabama when a children’s book called The Rabbits’ Wedding by illustrator Garth Williams (known for his work on Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little and Little House on the Prairie) was released. The book tells of two little rabbits – one white, one black – who decide to get married. Though not intended to be political, the book caused a firestorm in the Segregationist South with calls to ban and even burn the book.

The play, set in 1959 Montgomery, Alabama, is the story of a segregationist senator (the fictional-characterization-based-on-a-real-person, Sen. E.W. Higgins) and the state librarian (based on a very real Emily Wheelock Reed) who clash over the content of a children’s book about bunny rabbits. The play contrasts that story with a reunion of childhood friends — a Black man and a woman of white privilege — providing a private counterpoint to the public events swirling in the state capital.

Alabama Story is a drama about censorship, book banning and Civil Rights set within the framework of 1950s racial tensions that parallels the issues facing America today as book bans and book challenges overwhelm libraries and schools across the nation.

Ghostlight will open Alabama Story during Banned Books Week on Let Freedom Read Day, Saturday, September 28. Let Freedom Read Day is a day of action with a call for everyone who stands against book banning to take at least one action to help defend books from censorship. Ghostlight is proud to stand up for the library staff, educators, writers, publishers and booksellers who make books available to all. Learn more about Banned Books week (September 22-28) and Let Freedom Read Day at https://bannedbooksweek.org/let-freedom-read-day.

Alabama Story will take place at two site-specific, book-centric locations: After-Words Bookstore (23 E. Illinois St., Chicago) and Haymarket Books at Haymarket House (800 W Buena Ave, Chicago). There is a preview performance on Friday, September 27 at After-Words Bookstore, followed by performances on Sept. 28-29 and Oct. 4-6, 2024. Performances at Haymarket Books are Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Tickets are pay-what-you-will, with an average donation of $25, and are available at https://ghostlightensembletheatreco.thundertix.com/. More information about the show can be found at https://www.ghostlightensemble.com/alabama-story.

Ghostlight Ensemble acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Alabama Story is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection.

Ghostlight Ensemble is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit theatre whose mission it is to ask questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories, immersive environments and unconventional staging. As an ensemble-based theatre, Ghostlight is made up of individual artists who are dedicated to collaborative creation and committed to working together consistently over years to develop a distinctive body of work. We welcome you to learn more about us at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Monday, July 15, 2024

Join us for a Season 8 Kickoff Party


Ghostlight Ensemble invites you to join us for an evening of songs, drinks and general merriment at My Buddy’s (4416 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640) to kick off our Eighth Season and long-awaited return to mainstage productions and a full season, post-COVID 19 pandemic!

We can’t wait to re-introduce ourselves to you and for you to meet our new artistic management team. At the event you’ll also learn all about our new season, which includes new partnerships with other Chicago institutions and maybe you’ll even see an excerpt from one of the new plays we’ll be bringing you this season. 

There will be karaoke. There will be snacks. There will an open bar from 3-4 p.m. And most of all, there will be fun. 

We’re also raising funds for our Season 8 programming, so we kindly ask for a donation of $10 (or more!) in advance via Eventbrite below or $15 at the door (cash, credit or PayPal). First 25 folks to donate $10 or more will G.E.T. a special Ghostlight Ensemble swag bag!

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

‘It’s About Time’: Ghostlight marks return to full productions post-Covid with its 8th Season beginning in September

Ghostlight Ensemble announces its Season 8 lineup, marking the company’s return to a full production season with two mainstage shows, as well as a Nightlight play for young audiences, staged readings and ongoing collaborations with Chicago area museums.

The company also announces a change in leadership with Ensemble Member and Chicago actor Justin Broom promoted to co-artistic director, along with Ensemble Member Holly Robison. Broom has been with Ghostlight since 2019 and Robison, who was acting as an interim co-artistic director, is a founding member of the company and previously served as artistic director from 2016 to 2019.

“It is a very full-circle moment for me, in a way, to join a company right before we had to move inside (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) to then come out the other end as a leader to help bring Ghostlight back to in-person stages and locations,” Broom said.

“Ghostlight’s mission has always been to ask questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories via immersive environments and unconventional staging, which very much aligns with my values to making theater,” he continued. “As Co-Artistic Director, I'm excited to offer my perspective and experiences as a Queer theater artist to fulfill our mission in new ways, expand our ensemble and bring Ghostlight back into the Chicago scene.”

Broom first appeared with Ghostlight in 2019 in a reading of The Thirteenth Chair and has been active in the company and the Chicago theatre scene ever since. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Radio, Television and Digital Media from Southern Illinois University.

“I care so much about this company, having been with it from the beginning, and am so happy to continue in this leadership role as Ghostlight emerges from our scaled-back programming during COVID with one of our busiest and exciting seasons yet,” Robison said. “I’m also particularly looking forward to leading with Justin, who has come to be one of the most active and insightful voices within the company.”

Robison is a Chicago-based director, actor and improvisor who has directed An Ideal Husband and Picasso at the Lapin Agile for Ghostlight Ensemble, as well as conceiving the For Your (Re)Consideration series. She has studied directing with various organizations, including the summer program, A Practical Approach to Directing at Yale School of Drama and is a member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She is also a cast member and producer with Improvised Jane Austen.

Full bios for both artistic directors are available on our website at GhostlightEnsemble.com/the-ensemble.

The new management team led the selection process for the upcoming season, which celebrates a symphony of creativity that resonates across cultures and time, reminding us that art is a universal language that binds us all.

“We have some amazing projects and collaborations this season, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience them,” Robison said.

Ghostlight will begin its Eighth Season with Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones, a drama about censorship, book banning and Civil Rights set within the framework of 1950s racial tensions. Robison will direct.

Inspired by true events, Alabama Story is a drama about a segregationist senator and the state librarian who clash over the content of a children’s book about bunny rabbits against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama. Political foes, childhood friends and one feisty children’s author inhabit a Deep South of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak and hope.

Alabama Story will take place Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 4-6, 2024, at After-Words Bookstore (23 E. Illinois St., Chicago) and Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20, 2024, at Haymarket Books at Haymarket House (800 W Buena Ave, Chicago).

In December, the company expands on its partnership with the Richard H. Driehaus Museum to present Holiday Spirits: A Collection of Victorian Yuletide GhostStories, a multi-story and multi-storied immersive, site-specific adaptation of classic Victorian ghost stories at the museum.

In February, the Nightlight series returns with a full-length produ
ction for young audiences,
Invaders of Mathmatica, written by Ensemble Member Nick Conrad. The original play is a celebration of the arts that argues true riches come from collaboration, not isolation.

And Ghostlight will close out the season in spring 2025 with the world premiere of Drink the Past Dry written by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham. The site-specific piece is set and will take place at a nondescript neighborhood bar in the middle of Chicago that looks like every other bar in every other neighborhood. But this bar has a secret. It can take you anywhere in time. All you have to do is take a drink.

In addition, the For Your (Re)Consideration staged reading series will return in 2025, with its ongoing mission to explore the works of historically overlooked female writers. And Ghostlight will continue its popular Live Movie Reading Series throughout the year. Plus, the company has several other surprises brewing.

To celebrate its return to full productions (and a full season) after the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghostlight is hosting a Season Kick-Off event at My Buddy’s (4416 N Clark St, Chicago) on Saturday, August 10. Join us for an insider look at all our shows, exciting news of new partnerships and performance opportunities and a chance to chat with the new artistic team and Ensemble members, as well as karaoke, raffle/auction items, free drinks and more. 

Look for details about the Season Kick-Off event, the entire 2024-2025 season and Ghostlight Ensemble at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Ghostlight Ensemble is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit theatre whose mission it is to ask questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories, immersive environments and unconventional staging. As an ensemble-based theatre, Ghostlight is made up of individual artists who are dedicated to collaborative creation and committed to working together consistently over years to develop a distinctive body of work. We welcome you to learn more about us at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Monday, February 5, 2024

Up Next: A Live Reading of The Big Sleep


Ghostlight Ensemble continues its monthly movie reading series in 2024 with Such a Lot of Guns and So Few Brains: A Live Reading of The Big Sleep on Thursday, February 15. 

Join us at 7 p.m. at Black Eagle Club (1938 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60613), as we raise our glass of brandy with champagne to this headscratcher of a detective story and try to figure out whodunnit.

The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir starring Humphrey Bogart as wisecracking private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story that begins with blackmail and through a series of complicated plot twists leads to multiple murders.

More information is available on the show page. 

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Ghostlight welcomes new member to its Ensemble

Theatre practitioner and artist Christine Marie has joined Ghostlight Ensemble. 

Originally from Pennsylvania, Marie was last seen as Ada in The Edge of Play, as part of Ghostlight’s Make/Believe festival and as a vendor at the Holiday Cabernet holiday market. In addition to acting and visual arts, Marie is also a writer, director, producer, stage manager and designer. Since moving to Chicago, she has also written, directed and starred in 2 Idiots in a Haunted House for Rhino Fest, as well as working behind the scenes on numerous productions, including staffing box office, stage managing and designing sets. 

To learn more about Marie, and all our Ensemble members on the About Us: The Ensemble page of our website.

Monday, January 8, 2024

Up Next: A live reading of The Breakfast Club


Ghostlight Ensemble kicks off a new year of live movie readings with Does Barry Manilow Know That You Raid His Wardrobe?" A Live Reading of The Breakfast Club on Thursday, January 25, 2024.

Join us at 7 p.m. at Black Eagle Club (1938 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago, IL 60613), as we sneak some cigs in the supply closet and agree that Ally Sheedy looked much better before her “makeover”.

The Breakfast Club is the era-defining, classic 1985 American teen coming-of-age film written, produced and directed by John Hughes. Five strangers, with seemingly nothing in common, end up together in Saturday detention and throughout the course of the day shed their personae and emerge into unlikely friendships.

The live reading is directed by Chad Wise.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season.