‘It’s About Time’: Ghostlight marks return to full productions post-pandemic with its 8th Season beginning in September

Justin Brook and Holly Robison tapped to lead Ghostlight Ensemble ahead of the company's eighth season.

Ghostlight Ensemble announces its Season 8 lineup, marking the company’s return to a full production season with two mainstage shows, as well as a Nightlight play for young audiences, staged readings and ongoing collaborations with Chicago area museums. 

The company also announces a change in leadership with Ensemble Member and Chicago actor Justin Broom promoted to co-artistic director, along with Ensemble Member Holly Robison. Broom has been with Ghostlight since 2019 and Robison, who was acting as an interim co-artistic director, is a founding member of the company and previously served as artistic director from 2016 to 2019.

“It is a very full-circle moment for me, in a way, to join a company right before we had to move inside (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) to then come out the other end as a leader to help bring Ghostlight back to in-person stages and locations,” Broom said.

 “Ghostlight’s mission has always been to ask questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories via immersive environments and unconventional staging, which very much aligns with my values to making theater,” he continued. “As Co-Artistic Director, I'm excited to offer my perspective and experiences as a Queer theater artist to fulfill our mission in new ways, expand our ensemble and bring Ghostlight back into the Chicago scene.”

 Broom first appeared with Ghostlight in 2019 in a reading of The Thirteenth Chair and has been active in the company and the Chicago theatre scene ever since. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Radio, Television and Digital Media from Southern Illinois University.

 “I care so much about this company, having been with it from the beginning, and am so happy to continue in this leadership role as Ghostlight emerges from our scaled-back programming during COVID with one of our busiest and exciting seasons yet,” Robison said. “I’m also particularly looking forward to leading with Justin, who has come to be one of the most active and insightful voices within the company.”

 Robison is a Chicago-based director, actor and improvisor who has directed An Ideal Husband and Picasso at the Lapin Agile for Ghostlight Ensemble, as well as conceiving the For Your (Re)Consideration series. She has studied directing with various organizations, including the summer program, A Practical Approach to Directing at Yale School of Drama and is a member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She is also a cast member and producer with Improvised Jane Austen.

 Full bios for both artistic directors are available on our website’s The Ensemble page. 

The new management team led the selection process for the upcoming season, which celebrates a symphony of creativity that resonates across cultures and time, reminding us that art is a universal language that binds us all.

 “We have some amazing projects and collaborations this season, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience them,” Robison said.

 Ghostlight will begin its Eighth Season with Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones, a drama about censorship, book banning and Civil Rights set within the framework of 1950s racial tensions. Robison will direct.

 Inspired by true events, Alabama Story is a drama about a segregationist senator and the state librarian who clash over the content of a children’s book about bunny rabbits against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama. Political foes, childhood friends and one feisty children’s author inhabit a Deep South of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak and hope.

 Alabama Story will take place Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 4-6, 2024, at After-Words Bookstore (23 E. Illinois St., Chicago) and Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20, 2024, at Haymarket Books at Haymarket House (800 W Buena Ave, Chicago).

 In December, the company expands on its partnership with the Richard H. Driehaus Museum to present Holiday Spirits: A Collection of Victorian Yuletide Ghost Stories, a multi-story and multi-storied immersive, site-specific adaptation of classic Victorian ghost stories at the museum.

In February, the Nightlight series returns with a full-length production for young audiences, Invaders of Mathmatica, written by Ensemble Member Nick Conrad. The original play is a celebration of the arts that argues true riches come from collaboration, not isolation.

And Ghostlight will close out the season in spring 2025 with the world premiere of Drink the Past Dry written by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham. The site-specific piece is set and will take place at a nondescript neighborhood bar in the middle of Chicago that looks like every other bar in every other neighborhood. But this bar has a secret. It can take you anywhere in time. All you have to do is take a drink.

In addition, the For Your (Re)Consideration staged reading series will return in 2025, with its ongoing mission to explore the works of historically overlooked female writers. And Ghostlight will continue its popular Live Movie Reading Series throughout the year. Plus, the company has several other surprises brewing.

To celebrate its return to full productions (and a full season) after the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghostlight is hosting a Season Kickoff event at My Buddy’s (4416 N Clark St, Chicago) on Saturday, August 10. Join us for an insider look at all our shows, exciting news of new partnerships and performance opportunities and a chance to chat with the new artistic team and Ensemble members, as well as karaoke, raffle/auction items, free drinks and more. 

Look for details about the Season Kickoff event, the entire 2024-2025 season and Ghostlight Ensemble at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Suffrage Takes Center Stage in Ghostlight's Plays For Women! This Wednesday

Rehearsals for Lady Geraldine’s Speech by Beatrice Harraden.

Ghostlight Ensemble returns to the Richard H. Driehaus Museum this week with Plays for Women!: A collection of overlooked suffrage plays.

Though once a vital part of the suffrage movement, these four short works are rarely performed in modern day. Plays for Women! is a co-production with the Driehaus Museum that coincides with March as Women’s History Month and is part of Ghostlight's For Your (Re)Consideration series.

“These little-known American and British suffrage plays are excellent examples of thought-provoking and entertaining plays that are still shockingly relevant to our current environment. Encountering these plays – written in the early 20th century – more than a 100 years later, illuminates the issues we are still fighting for, the barriers that still exist and the arguments still used to justify oppression,” said director Holly Robison.

Suffrage theatre was a form of dramatic literature which emerged during the suffrage movement in the early 20th century, particularly in Great Britain, but here at home organizations such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) also viewed theater as an effective way to highlight women’s issues and spread pro-suffrage sentiment.

Pro-suffrage plays often featured strong female characters who were intelligent and well-informed voters who spent the majority of their time on stage dispelling stereotypes perpetuated by the anti-suffrage movement. The plays themselves were written so as to be more widely performed with no set and few props.  

The works which are part of Plays for Women! vary widely in tone, from an incisive social problem play to a farce-like comedy. They are:

• Something to Vote For by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A short play by the famed American feminist author that follows a women’s club meeting whose members must face real-world implications and consequences when women are denied a voice in policy making and government. The play touches on issues of feminism, as well as classism, capitalism and consumerism that are still relevant today. Cast: Maria Burnham as Dr. Strong, Sera Young as Mrs. Carroll, Juliana Zepeda as Mrs. Reedway, Sydney Ray as Mrs. O’Shane, Jessye Mueller as Mr. Arnold, Christine Marie as Mr. Billings and Squeek Rangel as Miss Carrie Turner and Holly Robison as narrator and additional voices.

• An Anti-Suffragist, or, The Other Side by H.M. Paull: A humous satirical monologue from a privileged young lady who looks to be active in the anti-suffrage movement. She attempts to persuade the audience to her side but in actuality, makes a deeply comical and revealing argument against herself. Cast: Maria Burnham as Chairwoman and Holly Robison as Miss De Lacey.

• The Mother’s Meeting by Mrs. Harlow Phibbs: Another comic monologue, but this one is delivered from a working-class character who pokes holes in the anti-suffrage arguments made by upper and middle-class women of privilege. The woman inadvertently attends an anti-suffrage meeting and recounts how she ultimately makes a resounding speech in favor of suffrage and women’s rights. Cast: Squeek Rangel as Mrs. Puckle.

• Lady Geraldine’s Speech by Beatrice Harraden: A comic short play about the troubles of Lady Geraldine, who agrees to give an anti-suffrage speech despite never having contemplated the issue seriously. She seeks out the help of her friend. At the home of this friend Lady Geraldine encounters women of multiple professions that she admires who convince her of the merits of the suffragist movement. Cast: Juliana Zepeda as Lady Geraldine, Jessye Mueller as Dr. Alice, Maria Burnham as Gertrude Silberthwaite, Sydney Ray as Nora Baillie, Christine Marie as Hilda Crowninshield and Sera Young as Nellie Grant.

 “These plays are overlooked historical gems that modern audiences will find surprisingly familiar,” Robison said.

 Plays for Women!: A collection of overlooked suffrage plays is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the Nickerson Ballroom at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum (40 East Erie St., Chicago, IL 60611). Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. The reading runs about 90 minutes with an intermission. A brief talkback will follow. Tickets are available through the Driehaus Museum at https://driehausmuseum.org/programs/detail/plays-for-women. Please note that due to ongoing renovations, there is no elevator available to the Nickerson Ballroom.

Plays for Women! Is part of Ghostlight’s For Your (Re)Consideration series, which 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.

For Women's History Month: Plays for Women! at the Driehaus Museum in March

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 and is part of Ghostlight's For Your (Re)Consideration series.

The reading takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6, in the Nickerson Ballroom at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum (40 East Erie St., Chicago, IL 60611).

The short works that make up Plays for Women! are: Something to Vote For by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, An Anti-Suffragist or the Other Side by H.M. Paull, The Mother’s Meeting by Mrs. Harlow Phibbs and Lady Geraldine’s Speech by Beatrice Harraden.

The reading is directed by Ensemble member Holly Robison and runs about 90 minutes with an intermission. A brief talkback will follow.

Ghostlight joins with Driehaus Museum to present 'The Shadow of A Doubt' in March

Ghostlight joins with the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in March to present a staged reading of the recently rediscovered play, The Shadow of A Doubt, by novelist Edith Wharton. The play is part of our For Your (Re)Consideration series that explores the works of historically overlooked female writers.

Set at the turn of the twentieth century, The Shadow of a Doubt, explores the issues surrounding social position, remarriage, the roles of women and euthanasia. Replete with Wharton’s trademark wit and skewering of Gilded Age manners, the play centers around nurse Kate Tredennis, who marries John Derwent, a widower of one of Kate’s former patients and friends. Elevated into society through her marriage, Kate is a model wife and stepmother, but she feels uneasy with her new position and faces constant scrutiny for her lowlier background. Soon, her unease is manifested when a man from her past casts suspicion on Kate and accuses her in the first Mrs. Derwent’s death.

The reading runs about 90 minutes with an intermission. A brief talkback will follow.

More information is available on our show page here, and on the Driehaus Museum’s website here.

Good to know: Transportation options if you're coming to 'The Woman of Colour'

The staged reading of our original script for The Woman of Colour: A Tale is coming up later this month at Berger Park Cultural Center in Edgewater. There are actually two mansions and a coach house on this property. Our production takes place in the building to the south on the property (known as the Downey Mansion, at 6205 N. Sheridan Road).

Berger Park does not have public parking; however there is a cul-de-sac on Granville Avenue on the south side of the park, which allows for handicap accessibility drop-off. Metered Street Parking is available on Granville Avenue and also on North Broadway. Permit-free neighborhood parking is also available on the streets just west of Sheridan Road.

Public transportation, bicycling or utilizing one of the city's ride-sharing or taxi cab companies is greatly encouraged.

Public transportation options include:

• Red Line Train: Granville stop. Exit station and walk three blocks east to the Lake.

• Bus: 151 Sheridan. Stops right in front of the park at Granville Avenue and Sheridan Road

Bike racks are also located throughout Berger Park.

We look forward to seeing you at this world premiere event!

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.

For Your (Re)Consideration in The Chicago Reader

Ghostlight’s For Your (Re)Consideration is featured in this week’s The Chicago Reader.

As a whole, the (Re)Consideration series is about challenging the idea that anything outside the heteronormative, white male creative realm is in any way "revolutionary" or a product of recent culture.

Check out the entire article here.

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.

Exploration of Queerness and romance takes the digital stage as part of For Your (Re)Consideration series

Andrew Coopman

Ghostlight Ensemble launches its new reading series, For Your (Re)Consideration, which explores the works of historically overlooked female playwrights, with The Convent of Pleasure by Margaret Cavendish at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 4.

Written in 1688, The Convent of Pleasure tells the story of a group of unmarried women, initiated by Lady Happy, who choose to avoid the pains or displeasures that exist in a male-dominated world and instead create their own community, or convent, of pleasure to create their own perfect, self-functioning society. This virtual reading is directed by Seattle-based Storytelling Interdisciplinary Artist Andrew Coopman. 

What drew Coopman to the piece is it is one of the earliest examples of not just queer narrative, but non-binary narrative as well.

“The Convent of Pleasure is a story of two women falling in love and fighting against the cultural expectations placed upon them,” they explained. “And the REALLY wild part is that one of the two primary characters changes gender with no explanation during that last act, which her husband wrote. What could be overlooked or simply labeled a cross-dressing character is, I believe, something much more complex and beautiful and kick-ass and resilient.

“The Convent of Pleasure is a great example of how history has erased and suppressed LGBTQ+ identity for comfort and ease, making it seem like a revolutionary or rebel idea of the last century or so,” Coopman continued. “But this beautiful romantic comedy is also a great example of the Queer community’s resilience and determination throughout history. We are Queer, we have been Queer, we have always been here, and it’s time to recognize and celebrate our story… and that’s why audiences should come watch our play.”

The cast of The Convent of Pleasure includes: Ensemble Member Song Marshall with Lotus Lindez, Cynthia Becker, Sagen Berry, Sebastian Summers, Aria Caldwell, Ira McIntosh and KJ Snyder.

As a director, choreographer, devisor, performer, playwright and teaching artist, Coopman has worked in a variety of theaters around the country including Seattle, New York City, Milwaukee and the Chicagoland area. Directing credits include: RE: Social/Divide (Cooperative Performance), Into The Woods (Studio East), Wilde Tales (Seattle Opera), James & The Giant Peach (Village Theater), Little Women The Musical (Seattle Musical Theatre) and the premier of The Sunflower Sisters (Eclectic Theater).

The initial broadcast of The Convent of Pleasure takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 4, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available afterward to stream through the end of April.

Tickets are pay what you will, with a minimum of $5 per reading and the average donation for such virtual offerings at $15. By donating more, if you are able, you help offset the cost for those who can’t afford to give. Tickets are available on the For Your (Re)Consideration page. 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, the virtual readings that make up For Your (Re)Consideration seek 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. 

Sometimes referred to as the Other Canon, the work of these early female playwrights dates from Hrotsvitha in the 10th Century to Dorothy C. Guinn in the 1920s. Their plays are as much the building blocks of modern theatre as those of their male counterparts. Some good, some great, some successful in their time, some way ahead of their time, these women have found themselves all but erased from history and rarely, if ever, produced today.

The series is curated by Ensemble Member Holly Robison, who said she struck on the idea for the series a few years ago when she came across The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, who was said to be an inspiration for Hedda Gabler and Miss Julie. 

“I thought it was absurd that those plays are heralded as classics and performed all the time, but I had never even heard of Benedictsson or her play,” Robison said. “I started thinking — what else was missed because the author was a woman? Or what plays and playwrights were never cultivated?”

Additional upcoming readings include:

• April 11: Distinguished Villa by Kate O’Brien, directed by Elizabeth Lovelady

• April 18: Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson, directed by Angelisa Gillyard

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

Additional scripts are being finalized.

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