See what's on tap for Happy Hour in March

Join us for a theatre happy hour where short plays by local and national playwrights are what’s on tap! On Tuesday, March 18, Ghostlight presents a staged reading of eight plays with one thing in common — they’re all set in bars.

Happy Hour: A Staged Reading of Short Plays Set in Bars will take place, naturally, in a bar. My Buddy’s is opening up on a Tuesday just for us. The show starts at 7 p.m.

The eight stories include tales of new loves, old loves, connections new and old, grief, joy and craft beer.

Selected scripts include:

• The Last Pub in Burtonsville, NY by DC Cathro. Late Christmas Eve at a shut-down bar, two people come to say goodbye to the business in very different ways. An unconventional Christmas tale. Directed by Alexis Vaselopulos.

• PS I Love You, Gerard Butler by Scott Carter Cooper. A funny story of grief and the impact Hollywood has on the process. Directed by Zoe Sjogerman.

• Mind the Gap by Rishi Chowdhary. A group of people find commonalities as they mind the generational gap at a bar one evening.  Directed by Maria Burnham.

• Swiping Right by Bruce Karp. Two friends, a gay man and a straight woman, feeling old and invisible, lament their frustrated love lives in a gay bar...on Wet Underwear Night. Directed by Justin Broom.

• The Grape Nerds Reunion by Alli Hartley-Kong. Mike and Alyssa are connected by a past he can’t remember. When they meet at a high school reunion, Alyssa confides in Mike her mental health history — and he realizes the impact an encounter from a decade ago could have. Directed by Khnemu Menu-Ra.

• LOL by Annie Hogan. Gus and Eleanor have a budding online relationship and have decided to take the leap to an in-person meeting.  Gus, afraid of disappointing Eleanor, brings Aiden, a digital communication liaison, to their date.  The couple explores what it means to connect in person versus online. Directed by Sean Harklerode.

• Jury Selection by Karissa Murrell Myers. Jesse is in Florida, defending one of the most hated men in America. When his ex, Raina, surprises him with a job offer in Chicago, will he take it? Based on the real-life events surrounding the trial of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. Directed by Kaeli Meno.

• Beer Culture by James Nelson. Two craft beer connoisseurs have their evening ruined by a guy with terrible taste. Directed by John Gleason Teske.

Fight Night is back! Get ready to rumble...but in a very safe, theatrical way

Ghostlight is excited to be a part of the return of Fight Night — a violent cabaret celebrating the art of stage combat through original storytelling and violence design — with The House of Ideas: The Lost Scene.

Fight Night: Origins takes place on Friday, December 13, and Saturday, December 14, 2024, at 8 p.m. at the Factory Theater in Rogers Park. Six companies premiere original combat pieces in an electrifying event that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

The last Fight Night, produced under Nothing Special Productions in 2016, was the very first thing we did as a company.

The House of Ideas: The Lost Scene imagines a more violent end to the collaboration between Stan “The Man” Lee — writer, co-creator, self-positioned face of and greatest champion for Marvel Comics in the 1960’s and beyond — and Jack “The King” Kirby — his rough and tumble collaborator and arguably the greatest artist the genre has ever seen.

Tickets are on sale now via The Factory Theater.

Announcing our newest museum partnership

Ghostlight is excited to be teaming up with the Chicago History Museum for their Spooky Sunday event!

The museum will celebrate the Spooky Season with a screening of the Chicago-based horror film Child’s Play (1988, dir. Tom Holland) on Sunday, October 13, 2024.

Following the film, Ghostlight will host a spooky-themed trivia game about other horror movies set in Chicago. And in between each round, actors will perform live reenactments of scenes from these movies on stage. Prizes will be awarded to trivia winners.

The fun begins at 2 p.m.

This event is included with general admission to the museum. Tickets are available on the Chicago History Museum website.

Look for even more fun events with the Chicago History Museum in the new year!

Kick off August and our 8th Season with Karaoke (and us!)

We’re looking forward to serenading you with the sweet sounds of our karaoke powerhouse ballads at the Season 8 Kickoff on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. at My Buddy’s. Tickets are pay-what-you-will, but the first 25 people to reserve tickets at the $10 or more level will G.E.T. a special Ghostlight Ensemble swag bag. (They’re going fast, though!)

We will be celebrating the start of our Eighth Season and long-awaited return to mainstage productions, starting with Alabama Story in September, as well as singing our hearts out for one and all. Actually, we’d prefer it if you sang. We might cause noise complaints from the neighbors.

Learn all about our new season, which includes new partnerships with other Chicago institutions, as well as rocking out to some karaoke courtesy of Championship Karaoke. We’ll have snacks and an open bar from 3-4 p.m., as well.

We’re also raising funds for our Season 8 programming, so we’ll be raffling off lots of great items from Chicago businesses.

The event takes place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 10, at My Buddy’s, 4416 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640.

Can’t come, but still want to support Ghostlight, financially? Donate here.

The Holidays begin this Sunday!

The Holiday Cabernet is back for a fourth year this Sunday, December 11! Enjoy an evening of holiday classics (or not-so-classics) by favorite G.E.T. performers, emerging artists and surprise guests in a cabaret-style setting with a host who may or may not be toasted.

For year four, we've brought back the popular holiday vendor area so you can do some holiday shopping in addition to indulging in the holiday cheer. AND we've added Sloshed Snaps with Santa for all your holiday Insta feeds!

This year’s host will be the hilarious Bettie Attitude — a performer, dancer, storyteller and all around creative. Born and raised in Chicago, they are currently the Ensemble Manager of The Screwbelles and also known for their love of Taco Bell and spaghetti (not necessarily together, but also not necessarily NOT together).

Acts that will be performing this year include: Erin Baumrucker, Comedy Dance Chicago, Casey Daniel, Julia deGruchy, Improvised Jane Austen, Khloe Janel, Courtney Marie, J. Rohr and Nitty Gritty.

More information about these performers and our vendors, as well as parking and transportation options, is available on the Holiday Cabernet Show page.

The fourth Holiday Cabernet takes place at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro (3905 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60613) at 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 11. There is a suggested donation of $20.

G.E.T. into the holiday spirits and join us for a night of song, dance, theatre, good cheer and revelry. G.E.T. yule holiday fun on!

Ghostlight honored to perform 'Miss Elizabeth Bennet' as part of JASNA's annual meeting

The Jane Austen Society of North American held its General Meeting in Chicago this year and as part of its celebration of Jane Austen in the Arts, Ghostlight Ensemble was asked to perform a staged reading of Miss Elizabeth Bennet, a little-known play by children’s author and playwright A.A. Milne.

Before Milne became famous for his children’s books about Winnie-the-Pooh, he was known as a playwright, and even after his stories from the Hundred Acre Wood he continued to write plays and content for adults. In the 1930s, Milne set out to write a play about Austen, but found instead found that “it was just Miss Elizabeth Bennet speaking.” Bennet is the central female character in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. His play instead became an adaptation of the novel — one that preserved the wit and language of Austen, but colored with his own perspective.

Ghostlight’s staged reading of Miss Elizabeth Bennet was directed by Holly Robison and starred Song Marshall and Aaron Wertheim as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. It was presented as part of the General Meeting on Friday, October 15, 2021. More information on cast can be found here.

March Means War

Ghostlight will take on The Factory Theater, the cast of Southern Gothic at Windy City Playhouse, 16th Street Theater, Babes With Blades and The Hypocrites Alumni Association in Strawdog Theatre's late night game show, Theatre Wars.

Join us at Strawdog's new home at 1802 W. Berenice Avenue in NorthCenter as we compete against our fellow theatre nerds in a battle of survey-related gaming, guessing and kissing.

Doors open at 10:30 p.m. Tickets: $15

Save the Date for another live movie reading!

Your actors were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should...

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: Something Has Survived: A Jurassic Park Live Reading.

Join us on 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28, at the Celtic Crown (2356 W Cullom Ave, Chicago, IL 60618) in Lincoln Square, for all the dinosaurs we can jam into the backroom of a bar.

Jurassic Park (for those who have been fossilized in amber for the last 24 years) is a 1993 science-fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the book of the same name by Michael Crichton about an industrialist and his bio-engineering company that created a theme park island called Jurassic Park populated with cloned dinosaurs. Unsurprisingly this doesn't go as smoothly as planned, dinosaurs being dinosaurs and all. People die, dinosaurs die, many sequels were spawned.

Join our motley cast of actors as they try to recreate a chase scene with a T-Rex and kitchen full of velociraptors. Grab a beer. Try not to get eaten.

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