Thanks to everyone who attended Gingerbread Grindhouse!

And that's a wrap on our 2017 holiday production!

Thanks to everyone who came out to help Marie and the toys save Christmas during Gingerbread Grindhouse. We had full houses every night and for that we are so very thankful. We hope you have a happy holiday yourself with zero deaths by dolls.

We'll see you in 2018 at our 20th anniversary live reading of Spice World in January and at our spring production of An Ideal Husband in April.

Every nightmare comes to an end...doesn't it?

Thanks to everyone who packed our houses last weekend for Gingerbread Grindhouse!

Only two chances remain to catch Nutcracker Nightmare, plus trailers for Snow Day Bloody Snow Day by Babes With Blades, He'll Raise Her by New Millennium Theatre Co., Krampus!  by Ghostlight Ensemble and various improvised horror by The Stuntmen and Improvised Twilight Zone, all part of Gingerbread Grindhouse!

For those of you returning or attending for the first time, we strongly suggest purchasing tickets in advance, as people were turned away at the door last weekend.

Details

• Tickets are $15 and available online through the Greenhouse website, via email at boxoffice@greenhousetheater.org or over the phone at 773-404-7336.
• Remaining performance begin at 10:30 p.m. on December 15 & 16.
• Performances take place in the downstairs studio at Greenhouse Theater Center (2257 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, 60614) in Lincoln Park.

What is Gingerbread Grindhouse? In a nod to the lurid, violent films popular from the 1930s through 1970s, Gingerbread Grindhouse will feature a series of live “trailers” for grindhouse-style plays yet to be, before continuing on to the feature production, Nutcracker Nightmare – a holiday tale of children, the toys they love and the toys that try to kill everyone they love. It’s the perfect holiday entertainment.

Got extra cash lying around and it's been your dream to be killed on stage? We have one victim slot that remains open for Friday night. Learn more about that and all the tantalizing perks that are part of our end-of-the-year fundraiser here.

Hogan finds humor, humanity amid horror in her latest role

Though her latest production, "Nutcracker Nightmare," is set in a world where toys talk and dolls kill, Actress Annie Hogan found it was the human realities of the play that proved the most challenging.

"The biggest challenge for me is allowing my character to have grief and sadness without losing the humor that is inherent to the play, she said. "This family has experienced an awful tragedy. The grief has to be present, but you have to remember that these people are working through it. It is active. It would be very easy, as an actor, to play one extreme or the other - extreme grief/depression versus sitcom-type sadness. It's a tricky balance."

Read more about Hogan and her work in The Chicago Tribune and the Bucktown-Wicker Park Patch.

Jacobson gives life to children's nightmares in horror-inspired 'Nutcracker'

In Victoria Jacobson's book, things that slither along the ground are scary. Dolls are not. And yet in her latest role as Zipakna, a worry doll that comes to life and terrorizes the Stahlbaum family in "Nutcracker Nightmare," she is tasked with making an audience think just that.

"The biggest challenge was trying to find the balance between doll and creepy in a movement sense, Jacobson said. "What I consider to be bump-in-the-night scary are things that slither or move lower to the floor, while a doll would not necessarily be the type of creature to do so. Exploring a spectrum of movements in that sense is something that I worked on the hardest."

Read more about Victoria and her work in The Chicago Tribune or the Lakeview Patch. 

Nielsen takes on the (red) mantle for iconic Nutcracker role

Words may be the weapon most closely associated with an actor's trade, but for P. Tyler Nielsen taking on the iconic role of The Nutcracker in "Nutcracker Nightmare" meant acting with his body…and with actual weapons.

"I love the physical challenge of portraying such an iconic character who has so few lines," Nielsen said. "There is much to convey without the chance to verbalize the Nutcracker's internal journey.

"In addition, the chance to discover how a nutcracker might move, fight and express love is a joy," he added.

Read more about Tyler and his work in the Chicago Tribune or the Crystal Lake Patch.

Gingerbread Grindhouse presents: Babes With Blades!

Grindhouse wouldn't be Grindhouse without the trailers that come before the main feature -- often for movies that were never made.

At Gingerbread Grindhouse, we have trailers for plays yet-to-be. Will they ever become features? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, we present: Babes With Blades in Snow Day Bloody Snow Day.

A young schoolteacher finds herself at odds with a group of women devoted to their frosty master. Will she be able to claw her way out of their icy grip or be forced to join their depravity?
 
Snow Day Bloody Snow Day,written by Elyse Dawson, is directed by Hayley Rice and stars: Chloe Baldwin, Morgan Manasa, Izis Mollinedo, Hayley Rice and Kathrynne Wolf.

Find out more about Gingerbread Grindhouse.

Meet the cast of your Nightmare

Ghostlight Ensemble has announced the cast of Nutcracker Nightmare, the main feature of Gingerbread Grindhouse, which takes over the Greenhouse Theater Center's downstairs studio after-hours in December.

In a nod to the lurid, violent films popular in the 1930s through 1970s, Gingerbread Grindhouse will feature a series of live “trailers” for grindhouse-style plays yet to be, before continuing on to the feature production, Nutcracker Nightmare – a holiday tale of children, the toys they love and the toys that try to kill everyone they love. It’s the perfect holiday entertainment.

Written by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham and directed by Ghostlight Managing Director Chad Wise, Nutcracker Nightmare stars Ensemble Member Jean E. Burr as Clara and Guest Artists Alexandra Alontaga as Balam, Sean Harklerode as Drosselmeier, Annie Hogan as Mother, Maura Hogan as Itzamna, Tatum Hunter as Marie, Kirk Jackson as Truncheon, Victoria Jacobson as Zipakna, Serina Johnston as Rose, Allison McCorkle as Dora and the Evil Doll Queen, P. Tyler Nielsen as the Nutcracker and Mark Pracht as Father.

Full bios of the actors and production team are available online.

Gingerbread Grindhouse will also feature grindhouse-style trailers by Babes With Blades, New Millennium Theatre Co., Improvised Twilight Zone, Improvised Jane Austen, The Stuntmen and Ghostlight Ensemble.

Gingerbread Grindhouse takes place at 10:30 p.m. on December 8, 9, 15 and 16, at the Greenhouse Theater Center (2257 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, 60614) in Lincoln Park. Tickets are $15 and are available now through the Greenhouse website at https://www.greenhousetheater.org/gingerbreadgrindhouse, via email at boxoffice@greenhousetheater.org or over the phone at 773-404-7336.

VIDEO: Meet the director of our Season 1 Holiday show

Reading is nice, but sometimes it's better to hear things directly from the directors mouth.

So we've put together a little teaser of Nutcracker Nightmare — part of Gingerbread Grindhouse that goes up this December at the Greenhouse Theater Center — and what your support means to this show.

Ghostlight holding auditions for Nutcracker Nightmare

Ghostlight Ensemble will hold auditions for its production of Nutcracker Nightmare, part of our ongoing Gingerbread Grindhouse holiday horror series on, Tuesday, October 24 and Wednesday 25 from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Theater Momentum (1803 W Byron St #216, Chicago, IL 60613) .

Nutcracker Nightmare is a holiday tale of children, the toys they love and the toys that try to kill everyone they love. It's the perfect holiday entertainment. The play is written by Maria Burnham and will be directed by Chad Wise.

Time Commitment:
Performance Dates: Friday, December 8; Saturday, December 9; Friday December 15 and Satuday, December 16 at 10:30 p.m. at the Greenhouse Theatre Center.

Material To Prepare:
Please prepare a 1-2 minute comic or serio-comic monologue and don't take yourself too seriously. Submit H/R to Jean at casting(at)ghostlightensemble.com, and she will be in touch to schedule an audition appointment.

Ways you can help Ghostlight while G.E.T.ing some fun in return!

Want to star in your own play? Watch a live reading of your favorite movie? Have tea and biscuits with the wicked Mrs. Cheveley? Get murdered on stage? Then we have just the thing(s) for you...

Ghostlight has launched an independent fundraising drive. Wonder how these two things are releated? Read on.

Between October 1 and December 31, 2017, when you make a donation to our PayPal account, you can get a slew of cool, unique rewards — with a focus on experience-based incentives!

Your help will pay our artists and our rent for rehearsal and performance spaces, as well as fund design elements such as set and costumes, for the three shows that make up Season 1: Gingerbread Grindhouse, An Ideal Husband and The Princess Without Pots.

And by giving, you also G.E.T. Among the items to choose from: tea and biscuits with the cast of An Ideal Husband, getting murdered onstage as part of our holiday show, and having our Ensemble playwrights write a personalized play for you, starring you.

Perks will be given out on an ongoing basis, with all items distributed by the end of our 2017-18 Season.

We are self-producing this fundraiser, so word of mouth is very important to us. If you've supported Ghostlight in the past and enjoy what we do, please take a moment to let your friends know how they can help. You can also tell your enemies — we aren't picky or proud.

Details on exactly how this works and what you need to do are available on the fundraiser page of our website. And periodic updates will be posted there as well.

Ghostlight Ensemble is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so any donation you give is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.