The cast of Drink the Past Dry. Top Row from left: Alex Albrecht, Abbie Brenner, Valerie Cambron, Catherine Councell. Second row: Stephen Dunn, Katharine Jordan, Khnemu Menu-Ra, Dianne Wawrzyniak. Bottom row: Understudies: Dani Brady, Shantelle Rose Robbel, Sandra Samargis, Olivia Sieck.
Ghostlight is pleased to announce the cast and production team of our spring production, the world premiere of a new work by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham, Drink the Past Dry.
This original piece of site-specific theatre is set in a nondescript neighborhood bar in the middle of Chicago that looks like every other bar in every other neighborhood in the city. 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 not to be as popular a place as one might think.
The stories told in this play include a young adult searching for a lost family recipe, a street fair attendee looking for an old friend and a woman facing a life and death decision. Traveling to the past is never simple and each finds more than they bargained for.
Drink the Past Dry is about the connections we have to the past and how sometimes to move forward, we have to go back.
“I’ve always been interested in how science fiction somehow allows us to more deeply explore our humanity and our past as well as our future,” Burnham said. “Though these stories are wrapped in the sci-fi staple of time travel, this play is really about human connections to ourselves, to the people we love, to the family histories we thought we knew. It’s very much about what it means to be a human being right now.”
The cast of Drink the Past Dry is: Ensemble Member Khnemu Menu-Ra as the Bartender, Alex Albrecht as the Regular, Katharine Jordan as Mica, Catherine Councell as Jamie, Dianne Wawrzyniak as Memaw, Valerie Cambron as Chris, Abbie Brenner as Bethany and Stephen Dunn as Dad. Understudies include Dani Brady, Shantelle Rose Robbel, Sandra Samargis and Olivia Sieck.
In addition to writing, Burnham also directs. The stage manager on this production is Shreya Khanna; the costume designer is Rin Menge; and the producer is Chad Wise.
Drink the Past Dry was imagined as a site-specific piece of theater and takes place in the upstairs bar at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro (3905 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60613) on Fridays & Sundays and select Thursdays & Saturdays from May 2 to June 1, 2025. A preview performance is scheduled on Sunday, April 27. The show takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets are on sale now and are pay-what-you-will, with an average donation of $25. Audience members who are financially able to donate more help offset the cost for those who can’t afford to give. A preview performance is scheduled for Sunday, April 27. Suggested donation for that performance is $10.
Drink the Past Dry is part of Ghostlight’s season on time. Season 8 celebrates a symphony of creativity that resonates across cultures and time, reminding us that art is a universal language that binds us all.
More information about Drink the Past Dry can be found at www.ghostlightensemble.com/drink-the-past-dry.
Ghostlight Ensemble acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
