Ghostlight
Ensemble announces its Season 9 lineup, which includes the fall production of
Angry Fags by Topher Payne, in a season
that will focus on celebrating otherness and uplifting Queer characters and
voices.
“The
climate we find ourselves in right now demands action. We cannot be passive in
our support or love for communities that find themselves at risk. We, as a
theatre company, are in the unique position with our art to center community
building,” Co-Artistic Director Justin Broom said.
The
2025-2026 season will feature two mainstage productions, a play for young
audiences, staged readings, a three-part cabaret experience and ongoing
collaborations with Chicago area museums. All productions center around love
and relationships with an emphasis on queer characters and themes.
“This is a thrilling season from
Ghostlight, with bold and compelling artistic programming that includes
full-length productions, theatre for young audiences, immersive performance and
cabaret,” Co-Artistic Director Holly Robison said. “Now, more than ever, art is
essential, and I hope our season will challenge, inspire, move and comfort our
audiences. Art at its best can do all these things and more. I hope our
audiences will feel that way too, that our work truly echoes our season’s theme
‘Love is a Verb’.”
Ghostlight
will present its first full production, Angry
Fags written by Topher Payne and directed by Jack Bowes, in November at
Lifeline Theatre in Rogers Park.
An
out lesbian state senator is up for re-election. Her female opponent is a
moderate conservative who has aligned herself with right-wing extremists.
They’re locked in a tight race in which each side caters to its base and any
event can become instantaneously politicized. When a gay man is bashed with a
baseball bat and left to die, his ex-boyfriend, a campaign aide for the
incumbent senator, is enraged. But his boss’s unwillingness to label it a hate
crime tips him over the edge. Frustration and fear eventually turn to rage and
he teams up with his best friend to embark on a vendetta of sabotage and more,
reasoning that if gays aren’t respected enough to win justice, fear will
achieve what good intentions and politics cannot.
Angry Fags asks how far is too far
to protect your community? Where is the line between helping and making things
worse?
The
production runs November 6-23, 2025, at Lifeline Theatre (6912 N Glenwood Ave,
Chicago, IL, 60626).
In
mid-December, Ghostlight and the Driehaus Museum are excited to announce the
return of Holiday Spirits: A Collectionof Victorian Yuletide Ghost Stories, a multi-story and multi-storied
immersive, site-specific adaptation of classic Victorian ghost stories at the
museum. In its second year, the production will expand from one night to three
– one for Driehaus museum members and two for the general public. Be prepared
to move through the mansion with the actors as they uncover these otherworldly
visitors.
In
February, our Nightlight young audience series returns with The 8th Dwarf. The new work by Olivia
Sieck tells the story of Binky, an outsider dwarf who, inspired by the kindness
and motherly affection of Snow White, longs to find the courage to join the
most special of their kind – the dwarves that get to work in the mines. The
play shows that courage, kindness and wit matter more than anything and actions
mean more than material goods.
Ghostlight
will close out its season in the spring of 2026 with The Dover Road by A.A. Milne (of Winnie-the-Pooh fame), directed by
Co-Artistic Director Holly Robison. The
Dover Road is set in the home of the eccentric Latimer, who waylays couples
who are running away together and gives them a taste of what their lives
together might be like by forcing them into sustained exposure to each other's
habits and idiosyncrasies. The 1921 comedy is a not-so-subtle dissection of
romantic love, but buried beneath is a less obvious commentary on the
homosexuality, bisexuality and gender nonconformity that has always existed in
society if you knew where to look.
In
addition, Ghostlight will produce Ensemble Member Khnemu Menu-Ra’s, 3 Stages of Love, this season. The
semi-autobiographical three-part cabaret experience features a blend of
Shakespeare and song – along with original pieces. The company also plans a
staged reading of Lady Lazarus, a new
play in development by Ghostlight collaborator Haley Basil, and Ghostlight will
continue its popular Live Movie Reading Series periodically throughout the
season, as well as the For Your (Re)Consideration staged reading series, which
explores the works of historically overlooked female writers.
“As
a queer theatre artist, I think it would be irresponsible of me to not do
everything in my power to meet this moment in a way that uplifts, not just our
ensemble and audiences, but the community as a whole,” Broom said. “While we
need to raise funds for our company to create quality entertainment, there are
so many LGBTQ+ organizations that also need our attention and funds right now –
particularly those serving our Trans siblings who are especially at risk.”
To
meet that need, Ghostlight is also announcing its Love As A Verb fundraising campaign to support our most ambitious season to date and also raise money for
two Chicago area LGBTQ+ organizations.
The
fundraiser is live with a base goal to raise $5,000 by November. Donations from
the fundraiser will go toward artist stipends and production costs with a
portion of the proceeds going to local Chicago charities Brave Space Alliance and Gerber Hart Library & Archives.
Brave
Space Alliance is a Black, trans-led
center on Chicago’s South Side that creates and provides dignified essential
services, develops programs and initiatives for individuals and families,
co-creates community spaces of care and connection and conducts advocacy on issues
that directly impact LGBTQ+ and Black communities.
Gerber
Hart Library & Archives collects, preserves and provides
access to the history and culture of LGBTQ+ communities in Chicago and the
Midwest in order to advance the larger goal of achieving justice and equality.
Those
interested in supporting the campaign can visit www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=T5TEKLEBFYFGY to make a tax
deductible donation to Ghostlight Ensemble. Upon conclusion of the fundraiser,
Ghostlight will publish the receipts of donations to other organizations.
The
season’s theme, Love As A Verb, is inspired by a passage from All About Love by bell hooks: “The word
‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet all the more astute theorists of
love acknowledge that we would all love better if we used it as a verb.”
Look
for details about the entire 2025-2026 season and Ghostlight Ensemble at GhostlightEnsemble.com.
