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Local theatre programs offer a wide variety of options for actors and audiences alike.

Broadway went dark for over a year when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Performance venues were forced to shut their doors, leaving actors, directors, choreographers, set designers, and many others in the industry bereft. Theatergoers, too, yearned for the return of their favorite form of entertainment.

Not only large-scale professional productions suffered during the theater shutdown. Communities also felt a local theatre void. However, it was during this lull in live performances that a new theatre program in the western suburbs began to come alive.

Introducing Ghostlight Educational Theatre Collective

Based in Westmont, Ghostlight Educational Theatre Collective opened to the public this fall and recently closed its first session of shows. At the start of each performance, the audience heard the introduction, “Out of the darkness, our

BY VALERIE HARDY

ghost light lights the way.” Micki Doherty - Ghostlight’s Artistic Director and one of its Founding Partners – explained the significance of the theatre’s name and tagline. A ghost light is often a single, exposed bulb, the only light on in an otherwise dark, unoccupied theater. Ghost lights have a safety function: to ensure the first person to enter a dark theater can see well enough to navigate the space. However, the moniker comes from one of their other early uses: to ward off ghosts.

For Doherty and the rest of her creative team, the ghost light concept perfectly symbolizes what the theater is to them: “always an alive place.” She added, “With COVID, theaters went dark. Ghostlight, as a company, is a new light for all of us.”

However, for Doherty, the idea of starting an educational theatre program had been kindling for years. After graduating from the University of Illinois with a degree in production and musical theatre (a program she helped create), she went on to direct children’s musical theatre for over 20 years. “It had always been a dream of mine to own a musical theatre company,” Doherty said, and “when I turned 50 [last year], I thought, ‘It’s now or never.’”

From there, Doherty reached out to a few others who she thought would share her vision for a theatre program with an emphasis not only on performance but also on education and inclusion. Together with these partners – Alex Bahaveolos (Music Director), William Hunter Evans (Technical Director), Colleen Gibbons (Production Manager), and Carolina Menapace (Producer) – Ghostlight was born.

With programming for kindergartners through college students, Ghostlight aims to provide the “most professional nonprofessional theatre experience,” Doherty said.

In large part, this comes from the level to which performers are challenged. Doherty wants “the kids to sing the hard harmonies,” and when the choreographer for the theatre’s recent production of “A Chorus Line” asked her how difficult to make the choreography for the performers – some of whom were untrained dancers – Doherty’s response was, “Push ‘em!”

Doherty believes wholeheartedly in the potential of the young performers with whom she works, and she knows the elation that comes when the worth of their hard work is realized. “There is nothing better than when they get off the stage and say, ‘We did it!’” Doherty said. “We challenge our kids to rise, and they’ll do it. They will rise.”

Ghostlight is able to challenge performers to the degree it does because of the environment Doherty, her team, and the young cast and crew have created. Doherty explained that Ghostlight is committed to inclusivity: “All children are welcome, regardless of identity, gender, monetary access…” Working toward nonprofit status, Ghostlight strives to remove financial barriers to educational theatre by offering tuition payment plans and scholarships.

The theatre emphasizes learning and having fun in a safe space. It is a culture that “all feeds down,” Doherty said. “We teach the high schoolers, who then come in to direct the K-8 program.”

From singing, dancing and acting to the educational side of costuming, light design, sound engineering, and set design, there is something for everyone at Ghostlight – including the audience. Upcoming musical productions include “Frozen Kids” (May 21-22) and “Legally Blonde Jr.” (May 20-22). Visit ghostlightetc.com for more information.

Another Theatre Program that Always Looks on the Bright Side

Ten years prior to Ghostlight’s inaugural season, another local theatre program hit the suburban scene: BrightSide Theatre. A non-profit professional theatre company, BrightSide offers paid performance opportunities for youth and adult actors as well as educational theatre camps and classes for children and adolescents.

BrightSide’s Executive Director and Founding Member Julie Ann Kornak, a 25-year Naperville resident and mother of three, explained that she was performing in a local community production when she and a couple colleagues – including BrightSide Co-Founder and Board of Directors Member Tin Penavic – decided to bring a professional-level theatre company to the suburbs. They all had families and were finding trekking to the city to rehearse and perform increasingly challenging.

So they adopted the Theatre at MeileySwallow Hall on North Central College’s campus as their performance home, added Artistic Director Jeffrey Cass to the team, and quickly grew their programming. Today,

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HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE SUMMER MAINSTAGE 2021 - MAMMA MIA PHOTOGRAPHY BY BARI BASKIN

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BrightSide Theatre holds productions throughout the year: a fall play or musical, cabaret concert series, springtime play and children’s musical production, and summer musical. BrightSide also recently added a free Summer in the Park series, which features a musical revue. In its inaugural run last summer, the series – held at Naperville’s Wagner Family Pavilion – drew an audience of over 400 people per performance. BrightSide also runs musical theatre camps at the Pavilion as well as at the Downers Grove Swim and Racquet Club.

With a mission to educate, enlighten, and entertain its audiences, BrightSide Theatre upholds its name (which was derived from the song “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” from the musical “Spamalot”). Kornak explained that BrightSide tries to keep things light, producing primarily musicals and comedies. “We don’t need drama on the stage; we have enough of it in our lives,” she said.

In addition to its optimism, BrightSide also strives for accessibility by keeping ticket prices low, holding free opportunities for people to experience the arts, and offering audio-described performances with touch tours for audience members who are blind or have limited vision. BrightSide also takes pride in its unique main stage performance space: with seating on three sides and no seat further than 25 feet from the stage, “it’s an intimate experience…the audience feels like they’re living in [the set],” Kornak said.

BrightSide recently ran productions of the comical farce “Don’t Dress For Dinner” and the musical version of Disney’s “The Descendants” (the first, and perhaps only, show Kornak and her daughter will have performed in together). Slated to round out the season is the musical “Mamma Mia!” (June 3-19). For information about upcoming productions, or to register (starting in April) for summer camps, visit brightsidetheatre.com.

BAMtheatre: Two Decades of

Education and Entertainment

Like BrightSide and Ghostlight, BAMtheatre offers various educational theatre programming and performances throughout the western suburbs and beyond. Founded in 2001 by owner Melanie Lamoureux, BAMtheatre provides year-round opportunities for young performers (preschool through college) of all levels, serving as the creative home to more than 1,000 actors annually.

Not only does BAM offer significant in-house programming, they also take the show on the road. BAMtheatre has a robust after-school enrichment program through which students can participate in musical theatre instruction, often culminating with a full production – all taking place right in their own schools. For many children throughout the Chicagoland area, BAM classes are their introduction to musical theatre and first time on stage.

This month is busy for BAM: the Conservatory Ensemble presented “Zombie Prom” the first week of March and BAM’s Broadway Kids are performing Disney’s “Little Mermaid Jr.” (March 17-19). Summer is a peak season for BAM, including two mainstage productions – one for high school and college students and another for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. “Les Miserables” (School Edition) and Disney’s “Descendants” are this summer’s productions. BAM also incorporates a series of weeklong summer camps, “perfect for every kind of performer,” said Managing Director Julie Sommer Peterson.

BAM’s programming and curriculum are guided by four tenets: inclusion, education, community, and innovation. “We strive to emphasize…focus, energy, enthusiasm, and joy,” Peterson said. “These are values that can be transferred into any facet of life – on or off the stage.”

For tickets, or to register for auditions and camps, visit BAMtheatre.com. ■

SUMMER MAINSTAGE 2021- HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY BARI BASKIN