Ghostlight Ensemble Announces Cast, Production Team For Invaders Of Mathmatica

The cast of Invaders of Mathmatica. Top row from left: Sam Campos, Sarah Beth Johnson, Peter Leonedis and Julia Namm. Bottom row from left: Kendal Romero, D'Angelo Smith, Gabriella Smurawa and Sasha Vulovic

Ghostlight Ensemble is pleased to announce the cast and production team of Invaders of Mathmatica written by Ensemble Member Nick Conrad – the company’s first full production for young audiences since 2019.

The new work is set on the planet of Mathmatica where math and science are revered above all else and their technology far exceeds those of the other worlds in their solar system. But their culture has advanced without artistic expression and with a fear of outsiders. The planet has shut itself off from other worlds, figuratively and literally.

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 isolationist tendencies and the history she’s always been taught.

“I am excited to see what this exceptionally talented cast and production crew will create,” said playwright and co-director Nick Conrad. “It is my hope that the subtext of this play motivates our audience to realize that we can learn a lot from people who are different than us. When we drop our ‘shields’ and work together we can accomplish anything.”

The cast of Invaders of Mathmatica is Kendal Romero as Princess V, Peter Leonedis as King Algebra, D'Angelo Smith as Digit, Sasha Vulovic as Sway, Sam Campos as Hue and Gabriella Smurawa as Aria. Sarah Beth Johnson and Julia Namm are the understudies.

Conrad and fellow Ensemble Member Maria Burnham direct. Esau Andaleon is the stage manager; Ashley E. Benson is the costumer and Ensemble Member Chad Wise is the production manager.

The company has been producing a short play festival for young audiences since 2020, but this is its first full production in its Nightlight series in five years.

“We’re excited to bring our mission of asking questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories, immersive environments and unconventional staging back to our youngest audience members,” Burnham said. “Mathmatica falls in line with our desire to tell compelling stories for children that do not talk down to them but help make sense of the world around them while still making theatre fun for them.”

Nightlight is Ghostlight’s young audiences 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.

Invaders of Mathmatica is part of Ghostlight’s season focused 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.

Invaders of Mathmatica runs over two weekends in February 8-9 and February 15-16 at 2 p.m. at the Bughouse Theater in the NorthCenter neighborhood of Chicago. General admission tickets for adults are $20; general admission tickets for students and children is $10. The show takes place during Chicago Theatre Week.

Chicago Theatre Week is an annual celebration of the rich tradition of theatre-going in Chicago. As a program of the League of Chicago Theatres, in partnership with Choose Chicago, CTW is in its 13th year and will take place February 6 – 16th. Find more information at ChicagoTheatreWeek.com.

More information about Invaders of Mathmatica can be found at www.ghostlightensemble.com/invaders-of-mathmatica.

Ghostlight Ensemble acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

An Update on the Coronavirus and Ghostlight Ensemble

As with so many other arts organizations in the Chicago area, Ghostlight Ensemble has made the decision, after careful consideration, to postpone our spring production of Much Ado About Nothing in light of public health considerations around the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). 

In addition, we have also postponed our live reading series. Our reading, Great Scott!: It's a Live Reading of Back to the Future, originally scheduled for Monday, March 22, will be rescheduled once the pandemic has passed.

Our first priority is to honor the health and safety of all involved — both actors and audience. Ghostlight is fortunate to be in a position to survive this crisis, but not all the artists who work with us have the financial resources to weather this storm. Therefore, we are asking our supporters to consider donating to Season of Concern, a non-profit who for 30+ years has provided financial support to local Chicago theatre artists suffering from illness, injury or circumstance.

Because so many shows have been canceled or postponed, our local theatre artists are hurting financially. Please help support our peers that may be suffering these hardships and who may also have medical needs in the near future.

It is our hope to present Much Ado About Nothing at a later date, either this summer or next season. It is also our hope to continue the live movie reading series in April with our next scheduled reading of Drop Dead Gorgeous and to reschedule Back to the Future to a later date in the summer or fall. Of course, this will depend on a number of factors that are out of our control and difficult to predict at this time. We will keep everyone up-to-date as things progress.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and input as we navigate this completely unprecedented situation in the most compassionate and conscious way we are able.

All of us at Ghostlight can't wait to gather together again and share the stories that tie us all together as a community. Let's all take good care and stay connected, even as we are forced to physically be apart.

Be a Generous Giant for The Selfish Giant, a show for young audiences

Every theatrical production involves a team of artist on the stage and behind the scenes to bring the stories you're seeing to life. Most of these people perform, design and build without ever being paid for their efforts.

At Ghostlight, we strive to provide everyone with an stipend to help offset the costs of traveling to rehearsal and performances or running all over town to gather materials for costume, set and properties construction. That's not always an easy task when trying to provide affordable family-friendly entertainment with rental rates in Chicago at all-time highs.

We hope you'll help up reach our goal by supporting theater for young audiences.

Find out more about The Selfish Giant and our campaign here.  

Steve Martin, Oscar Wilde Part Of Ghostlight Ensemble’s Second Season

Ghostlight Ensemble will tackle the age-old debate of which is more valuable to society: art or science, and will probe the perils of building a wall to keep out unwanted children during its 2018-2019 Season.

Pablo Picasso, 1908

This fall, Artistic Director Holly Robison directs Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile – an absurdist comedy that imagines a meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a Parisian cafe in 1904, just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter sets the art world afire with cubism.

 Ghostlight’s production will explore the struggles and similarities between science and art, but also between genius and fame, big ideas and mere notions and optimism of the new and skepticism of the familiar.

“The play imagines the absurd and mundane in the lives of two men who really did go on to impact the world and alter history,” Robison said. “With Picasso, we are asked to consider the men as much as the myth, to see their flaws, silliness, insecurities, hopes and dreams, as much as their towering legacies. The mythic men are humanized. We can see ourselves in them and understand their desires.

“Even if we are not all geniuses, we all to some degree have the same flicker of desire to create, to inspire, to change the world and leave something behind.”

Picasso at the Lapin Agile runs October 19, 2018, through November 4, 2018, at the Otherworld Theatre’s new home at 3914 N. Clark Street in Chicago. The show will have performances on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon matinees, with an industry night performance on Monday, October 22.

The company will continue its Nightlight young audiences series next summer with a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s children’s story The Selfish Giant, written by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham.

The Selfish Giant is a tale of a giant who owns a beautiful garden, in which the village children love to play. The giant has been away for 12 years and upon returning is outraged to see the children enjoying themselves on his land. He builds a wall to keep them out and puts up a notice that reads: “TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.” But without the children, the garden falls into perpetual winter and the Selfish Giant finds himself isolated and all alone. Despite this bleak beginning, the story ultimately has a happy ending.

Nightlight is Ghostlight’s summer young audiences 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.

In its second full season, the company will also host a holiday cabaret this December and continue its popular Live Movie Reading Series.

Next up in the Live Movie Reading Series batting order is: You're Killing Me, Smalls: A Live Reading of The Sandlot. The reading, celebrating the 25th anniversary of this coming-of-age story set during the summer of 1962, takes place at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 16, at My Buddy's (4416 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640) and is directed by Carolyn Minor.

Introducing the cast of The Princess Without Pots

Pearl Paramadilok as Princess Sweet Pea (left) and Brian Barber as Brax (right) in rehearsals for The Princess Without Pots.

In June, we're bringing young audiences a new tale of a fighting princess and her parents' frustrating quest for a storybook romance in The Princess Without Pots.

Saturdays and Sundays in June this world-premiere production will take place at Laugh Out Loud Theater in the North Center of Chicago (3851 N. Lincoln Ave.)

The play is written and directed by Ensemble Member Maria Burnham and stars Pearl Paramadilok as Princess Sweet Pea and Brian Barber and Isa Ramos as her would-be suitors Brax and Miguel with Norman J. Burt, Jessica Casillas, Sydney Ray, Josh Razavi, Kayla White and understudy Sean Hendrickson.

The production team includes: Jean E. Burr (Assistant Director), Carrie Campana (Costume Designer), Dave Gonzales (Fight Designer), Carolyn Minor (Production Manager) and Chad Wise (Props Designer).

Tickets are $10 adults, $5 children 12 and under or $25 family of four and are on sale now.