alabama story
September 28-October 20, 2024
As the Civil Rights movement is brewing in Montgomery, Alabama, a segregationist senator and the state librarian clash over the content of a children’s book about bunny rabbits. Meanwhile, a reunion of childhood friends — a Black man and a woman of white privilege — provides a private counterpoint to the public events swirling in the state capital. Political foes, childhood friends and one feisty children’s author inhabit a Deep South of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak and hope.
Inspired by true events, Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones is a drama about censorship, book banning and Civil Rights set within the framework of 1950s racial tensions, but look closer and you’ll see it’s really about the issues facing America today.
Holiday Spirits
December 12, 2024
During the long nights of midwinter, join Ghostlight Ensemble and the Driehaus Museum by the fireplace(s) as we revive the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Yuletide.
Adapted by Ensemble member Maria Burnham, Holiday Spirits: A Collection of Victorian Yuletide Ghost Stories is a multi-story and multi-storied immersive, site-specific adaptations of classic Victorian ghost stories.
Three distinct stories will unfold over three floors of the museum. Some seating will be provided, but be prepared to move with the actors as they uncover these otherworldly visitors.
invaders of mathmatica
February 8-9, 15-16, 2025
On the planet of Mathmatica, math and science are revered above all else, but their culture has advanced without artistic expression and with a fear of outsiders. The planet has shut itself off from other worlds, figurative and literally.
But when three outsiders crash on the surface bringing with them music, art and dance, the princess of Mathmatica begins to question the logic of their isolationists tendencies and the history she’s always been taught.
Invaders of Mathmatica is written by Ensemble Member Nick Conrad and is part of our Nightlight young audiences series, which produces original, adapted and forgotten plays geared toward children and the adults who love them.
for your (re)Consideration
Spring 2025
Our reading series, For Your (Re)Consideration, returns in 2025 and continues to explore the works of historically overlooked female writers.
Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, the virtual readings will be scheduled throughout the season and 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.
Drink The Past Dry
Spring 2025
The nondescript neighborhood bar in the middle of Chicago looks like every other bar in every other neighborhood. A few regulars sit sipping drinks, making small talk, doing the things people always do in bars. But this bar has a secret. It can take you anywhere in time….
…but only once and only within the walls of the bar, so it turns out it’s not as popular a place as one might think.
But there are some souls who still need to reach out to the past – or to the future – and this is where they come when they do.