Culturally Rich, Diverse Stories Spotlighted in 2nd Annual Festival for Young Audiences

“Sunshine And The Sea of Lost Things” is one of six plays that make up the 2021 Make/Believe festival. (From Left: Alexandra Alontaga, Roxy Adviento and Cooper Bohn)

A child with no memory lost at sea, a balloon afraid of soaring through the clouds, a splash of Black Girl Magic. Welcome to year two of Make/Believe, a theatre festival that challenges its young (and young-at-heart) audiences to indulge their imagination and open their minds to all the beautiful, complicated ways life presents itself.

The production features a mix of short plays by local and out-of-state playwrights that were written for audiences 10 and under, but which are also meant to be enjoyed by all ages. This year an emphasis was placed on producing pieces in a way that children watching at home would be able to replicate – so they could “play” Make/Believe at home. The festival has also expanded to include three classes centered around stage craft, to help this next generation of theatre artists craft their own stories and shows at home.

“Make/Believe includes the type of complex storytelling modern children expect from their entertainment,” said Maria Burnham, the curator and producer of Make/Believe. “This is theatre with a message, with deeper meaning, with conflict of morality; it is a reflection of the life they see around them every day.”

Last year’s Make/Believe festival proved wildly popular, with both shows selling out and waiting lists that had to be turned away. While the move to a digital presentation this year was necessitated by COVID-19, the added benefit is that there is no limit to the number of people who can attend and participate.

“While we’ve lost some of the magic that comes with being together, we’ve also loosened the barriers about who has access to both do and see theatre and that isn’t a bad trade,” Burnham said.

The six stories that make up this year’s Make/Believe festival are filled with young people, plants and a puppy who must face great obstacles to discover who (or what) they’re meant to be. From the Filipino-American girl who is trying to find her way home in Sunshine and the Sea of Lost Things to the pink hydrangea that knows it was born to be blue in A Blue Hydrangea, the protagonists in these plays face the types of struggles children will recognize from their own lives.

Rashaad A. Bond

“For me, the opportunity to direct for Ghostlight Ensemble is an opportunity to show children that grew up like me that there is a place for them in theatre,” said Rashaad A. Bond, director of Best Friends. “It is an opportunity to show them stories they can relate to not just because they are universal truths, but because the people they’re watching look like them as well.”

Selected scripts include:

• Best Friends, written by Dallas playwright Adam Eugene Hurst, is the story of Brooklyn a dog that wants nothing more but to play and be best friends with Chops. But Chops, a well-worn stuffed animal dog toy, wants nothing to do with that. Best Friends is directed by Rashaad A. Bond. Cast: Dara Brown and Clara Johnson.

• A Blue Hydrangea, written by Oregon playwright Eric Braman, takes place in the backyard of The Great Gardener Carole, as a hydrangea bush wakes up from its winter slumber. What has always been a fully pink hydrangea bush suddenly has a head of flowers that is blue. The flowers explore the concepts of identity, acceptance and vulnerability as they wait in fear of Carole’s judgement. Blue Hydrangea is directed by Alyssa Vera Ramos. Cast: Ariel Etana Triunfo and Will Pettway.

• The Friend Box and The Box Friend, written by Chicago playwright Kim Z. Dale, takes place during a school show-and-tell when two friends both bring a very different “friend in a box” as their item and an argument ensues. But both kids come to realize that friendship — even if it comes in virtual or stuffie form — is more important than being right. The Friend Box and The Box Friend is directed by Jonathan M. Saucedo. Cast: Tommy Blackburn, Heather Bronson, Meg Collins and Terri Hudson with Jean Burr, Christopher Mueller, Sydney Ray and Holly Robison.

• It's Poppin', written by Georgia playwright Steven San Luis, is the story of a young kid who is afraid of moving to a new city and finds themself talking to a blue balloon that is afraid of being let go. Together they find the courage to embrace the unknown ahead of them. It’s Poppin’ is directed by Rebecca Rose Schilsky. Cast: Levi Denton-Hughes and Emmett Wickersham.

• Splash of Magic, written by Chicago playwright Lori Taylor, is the tale of Diane, an 8-year-old Black girl who is scared to go in the pool without something to keep her afloat. When she discovers her Black Girl Magic, she realizes she can conquer any fear, as long as she believes in the magic that lives inside her. Splash of Magic is directed by Kayla V. White and Aria Caldwell. Cast: Aria Caldwell, Nick Conrad and Toma Lynn Smith.

• Sunshine and the Sea of Lost Things, written by California playwright Sarah Lina Sparks, follows a young mixed-race Filipino girl, Sunshine, who is stranded on a ship in the Sea of Lost Things. Joining her on the ship are two heroes, Peter and Anagolay, who must navigate her home — wherever that home may be — before she is lost at sea forever. Sunshine and the Sea of Lost Things is directed by Roxy Adviento. Cast: Alexandra Alontaga, Roxy Adviento and Cooper Bohn.

Stagecraft classes will also be available virtually for children as part of this year’s festival. Families can choose from Building the Character — Literally, Building the Story or Building the World. Please note these classes are currently scheduled to run concurrently, so students will only be able to choose one per day. Classes are scheduled for June 5 & 6 only.

More information — including bios, ticket information and class descriptions— is available on our website.

In late 2020, Ghostlight put out a call for scripts for young audiences that were ethnically and culturally diverse, written by writers of color and/or LGBTQ writers and that could be produced virtually. Over 100 short plays were submitted from writers all over the world. Final selections were made in February 2021.

The festival was crafted to appeal to all ages and its “live” weekend run is perfect for families looking for daytime entertainment during a time of year when outdoor events can be unpredictable. Make/Believe takes place Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6, 2021, at 2 p.m. The performances will also be available to stream on-demand through Sunday, July 4.

Tickets are Pay-What-You-Will, with a minimum donation of $1, but a suggested donation of $10 for the performance and $5 per class. By donating more, patrons help offset the cost for those who can’t afford to give.

Nightlight is Ghostlight’s young audience series with original, adapted and forgotten plays geared toward children and the adults who love them. Ghostlight believes theatre can be a beacon for children, letting them know they aren’t alone in the world, giving them a sense of security and revealing the truth that in stories they can be anything they want to be. You’re never too young – or too old – for a nightlight.

Ghostlight closes out For Your (Re)Consideration series with dissection of the cruel dynamics of love

Holly Robison

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the final play in its series on historically overlooked female playwrights, The Enchantment. The play by the Swedish writer Victoria Benedictsson is a fascinating examination of a woman's capacity for love and yearning for a sense of her own self.

Director Holly Robison is excited to finally be able to share this play she’s loved for years with an audience. The Enchantment tackles issues that are deeply personal to those in the theatre — the importance of a professional or artistic purpose in life, and how it can affect self-worth, relationships and power dynamics.

“What is the cost of worshipping the great artist? Who gets to be a great artist? We are still dealing with that idea now...what do we excuse, what do we let slide when it comes to the notion of the great genius?” Robison said. “How are women personally and professionally lessened, shut out or disempowered by this notion?”

As part of her preparations for this performance, Robinson said she’s been considering what the play means to audiences now.

“How do we continue to look at the classics — the ‘canon’, or historical pieces — when we mine them to speak to us today, to help us understand where we came from and where we are?” she said. “In particular, when we consider how they examine or rethink the roles of women and gender and different kinds of relationships, we’re still usually looking at plays by men.” 

During the time The Enchantment was written, a new school of writing was emerging that focused on realism. It examined radical or scandalous new takes on gender, sex, marriage, etc., and created some of the most iconic female characters in theatre – Nora, Hedda Gabler, Miss Julie. But these characters and ideas are continually filtered through the male perspective, Robison said.

“We keep revisiting them but we’re ignoring a female voice that was writing then, the woman that was the inspiration for these new perspectives,” she said.

Victoria Benedictsson's play, written shortly before her suicide in 1888 and inspired by her own life, is about an obsessive, tragic love affair that asks questions about a woman's agency, independence and passion in the balance of a relationship and its aftermath. One sunny day in Paris, Gustave Alland, famous artist and philanderer, visits Louise Strandberg, who is convalescing in her brother's studio, and casts her effortlessly under his spell. In a vain attempt to escape, she exiles herself to her provincial hometown in Sweden. But a letter propels her back to Paris and into his arms. And for a brief moment, ecstasy is hers.

The cast is: Andrew Bosworth, Rebecca Flores, Madeline Pell, Nina Romeo, Janice Rumschluag, Daniel Stewart and Robert Von. 

Robison curated the For Your (Re)Consideration reading series and serves as Producing Director with Ghostlight Ensemble. For Ghostlight, she also directed An Ideal Husband, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, as well as wearing a variety of hats in other productions. Holly is a Chicago-based director, actor and improvisor. 

Full bios of the actors, director and playwright will be available on Ghostlight’s website at http://www.ghostlightensemble.com/the-enchantment.

The initial broadcast of The Enchantment takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 2, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available to stream through May 7.

Tickets are pay what you will, with a minimum of $5 per reading and the average donation for such virtual offerings at $15. Tickets are available on our website at GhostlightEnsemble.com/For-Your-Reconsideration. Please make sure to select the production and performance you are interested in receiving a link to view.

The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, translated by Clare Bayley, is available by arrangement with Nick Hern Books for an amateur reading. (Please note: This is a professional quality staged reading. This language was dictated by the British publisher for our non-Equity reading.)

Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, For Your (Re)Consideration seeks to bring attention to 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.

The initial play in the series, The Convent of Pleasure, written by Margaret Cavendish and directed by Andrew Coopman, premiered on April 2 and is now streaming on-demand, as is Distinguished Villa, written by Kate O’Brien and directed by Elizabeth Lovelady, which premiered on April 11; Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson and War Brides by Marion Craig Wentworth, both directed by Angelisa Gillyard, which premiered on April 18; and Warp and Woof written by Edith Lyttelton and directed by Christina Casano, which premiered on April 25.

Find out more about For Your (Re)Consideration and the entire 2020-2021 Season at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Ghostlight Ensemble is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit theatre whose mission it is to ask questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories, immersive environments and unconventional staging.

'Warp and Woof' asks: Why are essential members of society considered so replaceable?

Christina Casano

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the penultimate play in its series on historically overlooked female playwrights, Warp and Woof. The play by the British novelist and playwright Edith Lyttelton scrutinizes the ethics of power, commerce and labor in a deeply unequal society.

Though written in 1904, Warp and Woof remains startlingly relevant, according to director Christina Casano. Over the last year, society has had to classified grocery store workers, public transit workers, streets and sanitation workers, factory workers and the like as “essential” — and yet many of them are paid minimum wage at most, and treated as if they are easily replaceable, she explained. 

“This play questions the assumption of who deserves rest, leisure, love and protection,” Casano said. “It also asks who is entitled to our time, and whose time we are entitled to.

“People working in service positions should not be expected to bend over backwards and be on call for those that are wealthy. They should not be expected to do that for paying customers of any status, because there is a difference between professionally fulfilling the needs and expectations of a job, and being asked to do the impossible day after day.”

Warp and Woof contrasts the lives of upper crust London society with the lives of the poor dressmakers who work long hours in a sweatshop to provide those elite with the latest fashions as fast as possible. The play asks important questions about what we require from those who labor to support our lifestyle. 

The cast is: Justin Broom, Norm Burt, Song Marshall, Sydney Ray, Kylie Anderson, Eileen Doan, Jay Españo, Reagan James, Serina Johnston, Stephen McClure, Cat McKay, Nevada Montgomery, Jessye Mueller and Brittani Yawn 

Casano is the Artistic Director of The Plagiarists. Her training includes a B.A. in theatre from Miami University and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's Summer Professional Training Program. She was selected for Victory Gardens Theater’s Directors Inclusion Initiative for the 2019-2020 season, and served as the assistant director for How To Defend Yourself.    

Full bios of the actors, director and playwright will be available here.

The initial broadcast of Warp and Woof takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 25, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available to stream through May 9.

Tickets are pay what you will, with a minimum of $5 per reading and the average donation for such virtual offerings at $15. Tickets are available on our website at GhostlightEnsemble.com/For-Your-Reconsideration. Please make sure to select the production and performance you are interested in receiving a link to view.

Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, For Your (Re)Consideration seeks to bring attention to 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. The series is curated by Ensemble Member Holly Robison. 

The initial play in the series, The Convent of Pleasure, written by Margaret Cavendish and directed by Andrew Coopman, premiered on April 2 and is now streaming on-demand, as is Distinguished Villa, written by Kate O’Brien and directed by Elizabeth Lovelady, which premiered on April 11; and Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson and War Brides by Marion Craig Wentworth, both directed by Angelisa Gillyard, which premiered on April 18.

The final play in the series, The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, adapted by Clare Bayley and directed by Holly Robison, is set to premiere at 2 p.m. on May 2.

Find out more about For Your (Re)Consideration and the entire 2020-2021 Season at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Toll of war on those devalued by society examined in Mine Eyes Have Seen, War Brides

Angelisa Gillyard

Ghostlight Ensemble continues its series on historically overlooked female playwrights with two one act plays — Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson and War Brides by Marion Craig Wentworth — that deal with wars and the battles families are forced to fight amongst themselves when someone is called to “serve.”

What attracted director Angelisa Gillyard to these scripts is their examination of war not from the soldier’s point of view, but as it is experienced by those left behind when soldiers go off to fight.

“Coming from a family in which many of the men have served in the military and fought on the front lines of war, I was immediately intrigued by Mine Eyes Have Seen,” Gillyard said. “I wondered how they came to their decisions to serve. Did they struggle with determining to whom they owe their greatest duty — family or country? 

“I also wanted to explore war from a woman’s point of view, and thus War Brides was a natural choice.  Women’s voices are not typically heard in conversations about war and this play brings them to the forefront.”

Written in the final years of World War I, Mine Eyes Have Seen is the story of a Black family that fled the South after the father’s lynching. His wife dies of heartbreak leaving their three children to fend for themselves. The children are now young adults, but Lucy, the youngest, and Dan, the oldest, are reliant on their brother, Chris, to support them. When Chris is drafted, he is forced to wrestle with the idea of serving a country that has not served his family. The play is an examination on the nature of patriotism, citizenship, sacrifice and what those mean for people who have been betrayed by their own country.

Published in 1915, War Brides looks at the role of women in supporting war at the home front, and the expectations that they willingly send their husbands and sons to die in wars. It highlights one woman’s determination, after her loss of a husband and brothers to war, to no longer become a tool for war. The play also demands that if women are expected to work and sacrifice for war, they should be given full voice in the decisions to go to war.

The cast for both shows is: Tai Alexander, Charles Franklin, Marcus John, Sydney Johnson, Ben Lauer, Bryanda Minix, Deidre Staples and Lindsay Williams. Angelisa Gillyard is a Washington, D.C.-based director who has worked with Young Playwrights’ Theater, Arena Stage, In Series, Studio Theatre, Freshh Theatre Inc, University of Maryland and Montgomery College. Full bios of the actors, director and playwright will be available on Ghostlight’s website at http://www.ghostlightensemble.com/mine-eyes-have-seen

The initial broadcast of Mine Eyes Have Seen and War Brides takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 18, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available to stream through May 9.

Tickets are pay what you will, with a minimum of $5 per reading and the average donation for such virtual offerings at $15. Tickets are available on our website at GhostlightEnsemble.com/For-Your-Reconsideration. Please make sure to select the production and performance you are interested in receiving a link to view.

Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, For Your (Re)Consideration seeks to bring attention to 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. The series is curated by Ensemble Member Holly Robison. 

The initial play in the series, The Convent of Pleasure, written by Margaret Cavendish and directed by Andrew Coopman, premiered on April 2 and is now streaming on-demand, as is Distinguished Villa, written by Kate O’Brien and directed by Elizabeth Lovelady, which premiered on April 11.

Additional upcoming readings include:

• April 25: Warp and Woof by Edith Lyttelton, directed by Christina Casano

• May 2:  The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, adapted by Clare Bayley, directed by Holly Robison

Find out more about For Your (Re)Consideration and the entire 2020-2021 Season at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

An Exploration Of Gender And Desire Takes The Digital Stage In ‘Distinguished Villa’

Elizabeth Lovelady

Ghostlight Ensemble continues its series on historically overlooked female playwrights with Distinguished Villa, a play by the Irish playwright Kate O’Brien dealing with the suffocating consequences that can come from the trappings of middle-class life.

Though written in 1926, Distinguished Villa, has a modernness to it and a feeling of relevancy that time has proved many of O’Brien’s male counterparts lack, according to director Elizabeth Lovelady.

“When I read Distinguished Villa, I was amazed with how contemporary it felt, particularly in regard to the way it challenged gender norms and represented female sexuality,” Lovelady said. “While these characters were born of another era, their interior battles are strikingly similar to those we all currently face. I think it serves as a reminder of the many commonalities humans have across time and distance.” 

Distinguished Villa portrays the desperate lives led by the commuting class. In it, Mabel Hemworth boasts she and her husband "are known round here as the model of what a married couple should be." But the arrival and then potential departure of a female lodger makes Mabel’s husband realize he is, in fact, profoundly miserable. Frances meanwhile has developed a mutually loving relationship with another man. This is not a story with a happily ever after ending, however.

In the play, we see the seeds of what later became a hallmark of O'Brien's work — groundbreaking depictions of the sexual frustrations of women and an understanding of the wide diversity of sexuality and gender expression.

The cast is: August Forman, Christian Cook, Micah Figueroa, Allison McCorkle, Jordan Ford and Kim Fukawa. Full bios of the actors, director and playwright are available on Ghostlight’s website at www.ghostlightensemble.com/distinguished-villa

The initial broadcast of Distinguished Villa takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 11, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available to stream through May 9.

Tickets are pay what you will, with a minimum of $5 per reading and the average donation for such virtual offerings at $15. Tickets are available on our website at GhostlightEnsemble.com/For-Your-Reconsideration. Please make sure to select the production and performance you are interested in receiving a link to view.

Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, For Your (Re)Consideration seeks to bring attention to 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. The series is curated by Ensemble Member Holly Robison. 

The initial play in the series, The Convent of Pleasure, written by Margaret Cavendish and directed by Andrew Coopman, premiered on April 2 and is now streaming on-demand.

Additional upcoming readings include:

• April 18: Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson and War Brides by Marion Craig Wentworth, directed by Angelisa Gillyard

• April 25: Warp and Woof by Edith Lyttelton, directed by Christina Casano

• May 2:  The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, adapted by Clare Bayley, directed by Holly Robison 

Find out more about For Your (Re)Consideration and the entire 2020-2021 Season at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Up Next: Distinguished Villa, a groundbreaking depiction of gender expression diversity

For Your (Re)Consideration continues next weekend with Distinguished Villa by Kate O'Brien at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 11.

Distinguished Villa, written in 1926, tells the story of Mable Hemworth, a houseproud, lower-middle class wife more concerned with keeping up appearances than responding to her spouse Natty's affections. Natty falls for Frances Llewellyn, a bookish, artistic, neighbor, with ultimately tragic consequences.

In Distinguished Villa, we see the seeds of what later became a hallmark of O'Brien's work — groundbreaking depictions of the sexual frustrations of young women, and an understanding of the wide diversity of sexuality and gender expression.

This virtual reading is directed by Chicago-based theatre artist Elizabeth Lovelady. The cast includes: August Forman, Christian Cook, Micah Figueroa, Allison McCorkle, Jordan Ford and Kim Fukawa.

The initial broadcast of Distinguished Villa takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 11, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available afterward to stream through May 9.