Go Wilde with Ghostlight this spring

We just wrapped up initial auditions for An Ideal Husband last night and we have callbacks scheduled for Sunday. We had hundreds of actors submit and we saw more than 60 actors over two days. There is so much hard-working talent in this city, it boggles the mind.

Through our fundraiser, you have the opportunity to get to know these best of the best who will ultimately be cast in the 11 roles in our production. You'll gain insight on how actors become the characters you see on stage and how they go about their craft.

At the GO WILDE LEVEL, you'll join cast members and the director for tea and biscuits in an informal setting where you will be able to chat one-on-one about how we brought Oscar Wilde's biting satire of political intrigue to life.

Though written in 1895, An Ideal Husband's plot, which centers around blackmail and political corruption, hits an all too familiar note for modern audiences living through daily reports of political scandal. It's a show you will not want to miss — and you won't have to with the Go Wilde Level, which includes a free pair of tickets to the show, along with a second pair to any other show in our season. So bring a friend and take this opportunity to G.E.T. a rare peek behind the (stage) curtain.

Snuggle up with some cookies, cocoa and killer dolls this holiday season

Over here at Ghostlight Central, we're gearing up for Gingerbread Grindhouse with auditions scheduled for next week, a production team already on board and a line of Nutcrackers out the door. If you like a little horror with your holidays, this is the show for you.

In a nod to the lurid, violent films popular in the 1930s through 1970s, Gingerbread Grindhouse will feature a series of live “trailers” for grindhouse-style plays yet to be, before continuing on to the feature production, Nutcracker Nightmare – a holiday tale of children, the toys they love and the toys that try to kill everyone they love.

By donating to the G.E.T. Funding online fundraiser you have the opportunity to GET involved (see our last update and also the $100 donation level), or maybe you just want to know more about the production itself while chatting with the director, playwrights and actors. For just $25 you can get a pair of tickets to the show, join cast members and the director for cookies and cocoa beforehand and find out about the holiday magic that brings murderous dolls to life. 

Learn more about Gingerbreak Grindhouse on the production show page.

Interacting with acting

Audience members from the summer 2017 production of...oh, for the love of $%&; why are the actors making eye contact with us!

Theatre folk love this Onion article in which audience members are horrified to learn that the performers are coming into the audience. We laugh because we both love and hate when we're instructed to do this and we also laugh because we know it's true. Audiences, for the most part, hate this.

But there is another class of theatre audience, which also secretly (or not so secretly) LOVE it. That's why shows like Third Rail's Ghost Light (yes, we know, it's confusing — that is a SHOW, we are a COMPANY) and Punchdrunk's Sleep No More exist. That's also why we created the MURDER or MOVIE STAR LEVEL of our G.E.T. Funding fundraising rewards.  

With a donation of $100 (or more), that special class of audience member who likes to be INVOLVED in the production, to feel it happening around them, to be swept up in the excitement can find themselves dead on stage.

Those who choose MURDER will G.E.T. killed* on stage during Gingerbread Grindhouse. You choose the performance, we choose the method of your demise. This comes with a slew of other perks, including a Ghostlight T-shirt.

But death isn't for everyone. So for those who would like to be involved in a less deadly way, there's always the MOVIE STAR route. That way lies the ability to choose a movie for us to perform as part of our Live Reading Series with the option to join us for the rehearsal and performance process. This choice also comes with a fancy Ghostlight tote bag to carry your script around in.  

So while the audience members of Benedum Center for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh may be panicking about their horrifying breach of the fourth wall, our audiences will be reveling in the gore and glam of theirs.

*This is acting. No real audience members will be harmed during the production of this play.

It begins!

Welcome to our Fundraising Updates page!

As our G.E.T. Funding fundraiser progresses, this is where you'll find a collection of videos, thanks, interesting production background information, interviews and random thoughts revealing who, what, when, where and how you're supporting us.

To start, we'll tell you a little more about the "Choose Your Own Adventure" perks level, which begins with a $5 donation and continues ever upward, depending on how much you want to give.

With this option, the donor gets a personalized, original play, written by one of our Ensemble playwrights (you can choose your playwright if you have a preference, or one will be chosen at random for you if you do not). The works of fiction star a character based on you. A short questionnaire is sent to the donor, which will give the playwrights some basic information to work with (genre and setting preference, likes, dislikes, your feelings on clowns and unicorns, etc.).

The length of the play is determined by donation at $5 a page with no minimum (or maximum) requirement. So you could have a one page play at $5, or a 20 page play at $100.

Here's an example from one of our playwrights who has participated in this kind of fundraiser in the past.

Please note: The playwrights retains the rights to their work. An electronic and/or physical copy will be sent to donor-character. There is no guarantee of performance, but a public reading of the plays may be produced at the conclusion of the fundraiser to which donors will be invited.