An ongoing staged reading series, For Your (Re)Consideration explores the works of historically overlooked female writers. Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, the readings seek to bring attention to these remarkable women who have been sidelined by history for reasons that had nothing to do with their talent and everything to do with their gender and, in many cases, their race.

In 2024, Ghostlight Ensemble presents Plays for Women!: A collection of overlooked suffrage plays — a reading of short suffrage works, most of them largely unknown and rarely performed, to coincide with March as Women’s History Month. This is a co-production with the Richard H. Driehaus Museum.

The reading runs about 90 minutes with an intermission. A brief talkback will follow. For more details, see the Plays for Women! show page.

For Your (Re)Consideration returns in 2022 with a new stage adaptation of The Woman of Colour, a novel published anonymously in 1808. Written immediately after the abolition of the British Slave trade, the story follows a biracial heiress on her travels from Jamaica to England to marry as a condition of her father’s will. Like the novel, Ghostlight’s staged reading will explore the interconnections of race, gender and class, as well as examining cultural identity and colonial power.

The staged reading takes place at Berger Park Cultural Center (The Downey House) in Edgewater at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, 2022. Tickets are pay-what-you-will, with an average donation of $10. By donating more, if you are able, you help offset the cost for those who can’t afford to give.