Auditions Announced for 'The Selfish Giant'

Ghostlight Ensemble announces auditions for our summer show The Selfish Giant, written by Maria Burnham, directed by Maria Burnham and Miona Lee and based on Oscar Wilde’s short story of the same name.

The Selfish Giant is part of our Nightlight young audiences series and illustrates the perils of isolation and the negative consequences of selfishness, but it also teaches us that it is never to late for redemption and for love.

Character Descriptions:
Seeking a strong, ethnically diverse cast of all genders, ages, shapes and sizes, who love a good story and who have an imagination to rival any 5-year-old. Additionally, actors with strong movement backgrounds are encouraged to audition. This production will use a chorus of actors to embody not just the human characters in the story, but the mythical ones, as well as inanimate objects. This is NOT a dance piece. It is physical theater that relies almost completely on the ensemble of actors telling the story with their bodies and voices.

Material To Prepare:
Please submit your headshot and resume to Jean, and she will be in touch with sides and an audition appointment. Dress for movement and bring your sense of play.

Performance Dates:
Saturdays at 1 p.m. & Sundays at 11 a.m., June 7 to June 30 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60613.

Auditions:6-11 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13

***Please indicate your availability during this window in your email.***

Callbacks:
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 16

You MUST be available for callbacks. If you are not available for callbacks, do not submit to this audition. However, you do not need to be available for this entire time.

Auditions and call backs will be held at Otherworld Theatre.

Rehearsals will be scheduled around cast availability taking place 3 to 4 times a week during weeknights and weekends. However, as this is an ensemble production utilizing the entire chorus to tell the story, all actors will be called for all rehearsals. If you have extremely limited availability during April and May, we kindly ask that you do not submit.

To submit:Send your headshot and resume to Jean at casting@ghostlightensemble.com.

Chicago actress Sydney Ray brings empathy, kindness and her own brand of queenly spunk to her latest role

Every weekend Sydney Ray transforms herself from an average Chicago resident into the Queen of the Land of Contentment and then watches as the eyes of the children around her light up at getting to meet royalty. To the Uptown actress it's pure joy.

"I love performing shows for young audiences," she says. "I love the honesty that children bring to an audience."

Read more about Sydney and her work on The Princess Without Pots in the North Center Patch.

Ramos kicks imagination into overdrive for latest role

For Lakeview actress Isa Ramos, the best part about being in a show geared toward young audiences is having the freedom to think like a kid.

"I love that when performing for children, I have to kick my imagination into overdrive," Ramos said. "Childhood is the best stage of life because imagination rules our reality, and fills us with endless possibility and potential. Being an adult performing for children is the second best stage of life, because the kids challenge me to let my imagination roam big and free, the way it was intended to be."

Read more about Isa and her work on The Princess Without Pots in the Lakeview Patch.

Introducing the cast of The Princess Without Pots

In June, we're bringing young audiences a new tale of a fighting princess and her parents' frustrating quest for a storybook romance in The Princess Without Pots.

Saturdays and Sundays in June this world-premiere production will take place at Laugh Out Loud Theater in the North Center of Chicago (3851 N. Lincoln Ave.)

The play is written and directed by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham and stars Pearl Paramadilok as Princess Sweet Pea and Brian Barber and Isa Ramos as her would-be suitors Brax and Miguel with Norman J. Burt, Jessica Casillas, Sydney Ray, Josh Razavi, Kayla White and Emilio Williams as the voice of the narrator.

The production team includes: Jean E. Burr (Assistant Director), Carrie Campana (Costume Designer), Dave Gonzales (Fight Designer), Carolyn Minor (Production Manager) and Chad Wise (Props Designer).

Tickets are $10 adults, $5 children 12 and under or $25 family of four and are on sale now.

Ghostlight welcomes two new associate ensemble members

Norman J. Burt (left) and Song Marshall (right) have joined The Ensemble.

Actors Song Marshall and Norman J. Burt have joined Ghostlight as associate ensemble members. Both have worked extensively with Ghostlight over the past year and a half.

Song was in our inaugural live reading, Girl Power! A Spice World Live Reading, and she will reprise her role as Mel B (aka, Scary Spice) in the January remount of that reading. She was also in our Thanksgiving-themed live reading, Must Eat TV, and in our short play series celebrating Pirandello at 150, Six Authors in Search of a Character. You can also catch her as Lady Basildon in our spring production of An Ideal Husband.

Norman was in our inaugural mainstage production of Six Characters in Search of an Author as the Father. He has been a staple in our live movie reading series, participating in Something Has Survived: A Jurassic Park Live Reading, You've Got READ On You: A Shaun of The Dead Live Reading and Must Eat TV: A Live Reading of Your Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes.

Full bios of both artists can be found on the About Us: The Ensemble page of our website.

Why Theatre Matters To Us: Maria Burnham

Maria Burnham, back row left, in Ghostlight's You've Got READ on You: A Shaun of The Dead Live Reading.

Ghostlight is sharing our personal stories of why theatre is so important to us and, in turn, to others. We hope you'll feel inspired to support the arts now and forever more.

Maria Burnham, Marketing Director, Ensemble Member

"'So THAT's where you get it from.'

"It was a warm summer night. We were at a restaurant on the beach with my aunt's family and some friends. My mom and her sister were reminiscing about a film my mom had been in that had been playing on TV all week and...'Wait. Dad, did Thea Anna just say mom was in a film?'

"'No,' answered my dad. 'Your mother was a folk dancer that traveled the world, but I don't think she ever acted.'

"But it turned out that, in fact, my mother had been a film actress in her native Greece and in neighboring Italy — an occurrence that began as an extension of her dancing. When we finally heard the whole story that night, my dad looked at me recognition dawning on him and said, ''So THAT's where you get it from.'

"Theatre and acting had been a part of my life in some way since elementary school, becoming more so once I went to a performing arts magnet school in high school and then studied theatre (and English AND journalism) in college. My attraction to the arts was always a sense of bafflement to my working-class family that excelled in technical skills and mathematics, but had never seen a play until I came along. And now, here was the answer. I had inherited this thing with the arts.

"The revelation that acting was a hereditary trait, that there was this entire history of myself that I didn't know was unsettling. What else didn't I know about the past that made me? But it was also comforting. Theatre connects me to my family history in a way that old photos do not. That I could literally be the same person that my mother had been by taking on a role, that we both understood what it meant to create new people and new worlds, that acting had led my mother to be in Athens when my father was in Athens resulting in my actual existence? Well, now, that's something that, say, engineering could never give me."

http://www.ghostlightensemble.com/get-funding-fundraiser

Why Theatre Matters To Us: Miona Lee

Miona Lee, center, in Ghostlight's production of "Six Characters in Search of an Author."

Ghostlight is sharing our personal stories of why theatre is so important to us and, in turn, to others. We hope you'll feel inspired to support the arts now and forever more.

Miona Lee, Literary Manager, Ensemble Member

 
"I’ve always struggled with allowing people to know the real me. Call it social anxiety, call it trust issues stemming from childhood, whatever. That fact is, I’m not comfortable around people and don’t share much of myself with others.

"I could tell you a cute story of how when I was in fifth grade I played a Marilyn Monroe version of Mrs. Claus complete with feather boa and caught the theater bug. But really, I found performing was the perfect escape from myself. I found slipping into someone else’s skin liberating. I didn’t have to bare my soul to others.

"Through the years I’ve played my fair share of Queens, fairies, villains, misguided actresses, sisters, wives, girlfriends and the occasional warrior. Each time, I burrowed into these characters to find out what it is they might be hiding from others. Sharing these flawed characters to an audience has allowed me to open up more in my own life. It’s OK that I’m flawed, there are people out there that will accept me no matter what.

"For me, theater is much more than telling important stories that remind us we’re all connected. It’s my way of slowly learning to accept myself and trust that others will do the same. "

http://ghostlightensemble.com/get-funding-fundraiser

Why Theatre Matters To Us: Jean E. Burr

Jean E. Burr (right) as Clara the rag doll in Ghostlight's 2017 production of "Nutcracker Nightmare."

Ghostlight is sharing our personal stories of why theatre is so important to us and, in turn, to others. We hope you'll feel inspired to support the arts now and forever more.

Jean E. Burr, Casting Coordinator, Ensemble Member

"When I was 2 years old, I wanted to be a lion. I would roar at the lions when we went to the zoo (I’m sure they loved that), I would read and re-read my Zoobooks issue all about African cats, I’d play with my lion figurines, developing stories that I can only compare to Young & the Restless: Simba Edition.

"I did all of this, not only because I was a weird kid, but because I watched Disney’s The Lion King. I saw it in theatres… nine times. I listened to the soundtrack constantly and knew that my calling in life was to become a true, African wild cat.

"As I grew up, I realized my dream could never be a reality. I could never turn into a lion a la Animorphs and sing Elton John songs as I slept on a giant kopje with my lion friends.
"Or so I thought.

"When I entered pre-school, I was well over my desire to actually become a lion, but I quickly fell into pretend games with other children. We played Sailor Moon (I was always Sailor Jupiter, thankyouverymuch), Aladdin (I settled for the role of Rajah- not quite a lion, but close enough), Thumbelina (titular role, duh), or our own adventure games on the playground. My imagination ran wild.

"Our pre-school put on the show Peter Pan. I remember being pulled aside after school and offered the role of Wendy. Being the brat that I am, I accepted but told my mom I really wanted to play Tinkerbell. She talked some sense into me and I grew more and more excited. We probably only rehearsed a few days, but it felt like a month-long rehearsal process with clear actions, beats, scene-work, relationships, drama, complete with a show-crush on our Peter Pan.

"The performance was, in my memory, the most magical thing in the world. I felt so happy to be performing in front of my family and peers, and so proud when all of my scenes were well-received. I remember 'walking the plank' before Peter saved me, and thinking to myself, 'I LOVE this.' Afterwards, I received praise and hugs, and I felt like a giant, glowing ball of happiness in a blue nightgown costume. From lions to playground to Peter Pan, I found what I wanted to do. My brother had his sports, and I had theatre. And it would be a giant part of my life from that moment and for the next 22+ years.

"Theatre gave me purpose. It gave me empathy. It helped me form bonds and friendships from pre-school to adulthood. It helped me find my way to my home, Chicago. It gave me hope when I was lost in my late teens and early twenties. It helped me find a partner. It helped me find my place. Without theatre, I would be lost. With it, I can be anything, even a lion."

https://www.ghostlightensemble.com/get-funding-fundraiser

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. 

Two more weekends to catch 'Six Characters'

   Photo by Katie Jarecki

From Pirandello lovers to theatre novices, audience members have been seduced by the magic of the stage itself during Ghostlight Ensemble's production of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

But if critics, rather than audience reaction, is your thing, NewCity Stage recommends our "shaggy, funky" approach to the play, adding it "captures the gap between artistic impulse and finished product and between our own sense of self and others’ stereotyped perceptions. By exposing the fakery of theater, Six Characters paradoxically reveals its capacity for truth."

Six Characters in Search of an Author continues this Friday, April 28, at Voice of the City studio in Logan Square.  The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through May 7.

Reserve your tickets now for this classic metatheatrical play that finds new relevance while addressing the problems of modern theater.

Join the actors and crew of a small, but scrappy Chicago storefront theatre as they begin rehearsals for The Mountain Giants — Pirandello's final, unfinished work — only to see their work halted by six strangers who show up with a fantastic tale of their own.

Ghostlight Ensemble's production of Six Characters in Search of an Author examines the institutional racism and biases found in theatre.

This production is supported by the L’Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago and is being produced in conjunction with Voice of the City.

Auditions announced for 'Six Characters in Search of an Author'

Ghostlight Ensemble announces auditions for Six Characters in Search of an Author, written by Luigi Pirandello, directed by Maria Burnham.

Characters Descriptions: 
 Seeking a strong ethnically diverse cast of all genders who are comfortable with improvisation. We are looking for actors of all shapes and sizes, who are differently-abled, who do not blend in, who represent the complex tapestry of humankind.

We are casting for all roles, which range in age from child to 60s, including two non-speaking roles for a female child and a male pre-teen to early-teens.

Material To Prepare: Please submit your H/R to Jean, and she will be in touch with sides and an audition appointment.

Performance Dates:
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays from April 7 to May 7.

Auditions: 
7-10 p.m. on Wednesday, December 7
7-10 p.m. on Thursday, December 8

Please indicate your preferred date and time in your email. 

You must be available for callbacks on Saturday, December 10, which will be held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (You will not need to be there the entire time.)

Auditions and call backs will be held at The Theatre School at DePaul University (2350 N Racine Ave, Chicago, IL 60614).

Please send your headshot and resume to Jean E. Burr at casting@ghostlightensemble.com.

More information on Ghostlight and our production is available at www.ghostlightensemble.com.