Holiday Spirits

Cast

Catherine Hermes

Catherine Hermes’ [she/her] (Hawkshaw) previous credits include The Woman in Death of a Salesman (Gwydion Theatre Company), Natàsha in Three Sisters (Invictus Theatre), Melissa/Florida Neighbor in Decolonizing Sarah (Uprising Theater), Marion Davies in Mr Shaw Goes to Hollywood (MadKap Productions), Mary Peabody in Searching for Peabody’s Tomb (First Folio) and Marilyn Monroe in too many venues to mention. Catherine has worked with Citadel Theatre, City Lit Theater Company, Idle Muse Theatre Company, Navy Pier and performed as a puppeteer all over the city and country with Redmoon Theatre and NewMoon Chicago. As half of playwrighting collective Cluster B (with poet Benjamin Goluboff), Catherine’s work has been presented at Chicago Dramatists, Prop Thtr and shortlisted for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre Louisville. Catherine is represented by Actors Talent Group (maz@actorstalentgroup.com).

Miona Lee

Miona Lee (Evelyn) is delighted to be working with Ghostlight Ensemble again and has been working in Chicago for over 15 years. Previous Ghostlight credits include The Thirteenth Chair, The Selfish Giant, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Shadow of A Doubt, along with countless live movie readings. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre from Missouri State University. In addition to acting, you can find her flinging herself off a trapeze or devising new works using physical storytelling and contact improv.

Allison McCorkle

Allison McCorkle [she/her] (Mrs. Smith/Mrs. Montgomery) is honored to reprise these roles with Ghostlight this Christmas. A native Texan, Allison has been in Chicago for more than 15 years and has worked with numerous theatres, including Black Ensemble, Red Tape and GreatWorks. Besides staged and online readings, she was last seen in Duality Theatre's An Enemy of the People as Mayor Polly Stockman, and with Ghostlight in Holiday Spirits and An Ideal Husband. She has also enjoyed the thrill ride of understudy for Ghostlight's Alabama Story and Angry Fags.

Khnemu Menu-Ra  

Ghostlight Ensemble member Khnemu Menu-Ra (Dr. Alan Forsyth) is excited to for another year of Holiday Spirits at the Driehaus Museum! Recently seen in the productions Drink the Past Dry and Alabama Story, Khnemu’s Shakespearean cabaret revival Origins of Love opened GET’s current season, with the companion piece Simple Love coming in February 2026. Other favorite credits include: A Chorus Line (Madkap Productions, Skokie) Hair (Barn Theatre, Michigan) Pirates! (The Muny, St. Louis) plus Fugitive Songs, Six Degrees of Separation. TV: Chicago Med (NBC). He holds a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from the University of Oklahoma. RIP Papa

Scott OlsOn

Scott Olson (Mr. Hunt/Dr. Price/Mr. Roberts) is happy to return to 19 Great Hanover Street for a second year in a row. He has worked with Ghostlight Ensemble before in Alabama Story. Scott has worked with Timeline, Red Orchid, City Lit, Remy Bumppo, Aston Rep and Redtwist among others. Favorite roles at those theatres include Ben in The Normal Heart, Donny in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Dr. Worthing in Porcelain, Bennett in Travesties, Mr. Marsh in The Beautiful Dark and John in Now and Later. When not on stage, Scott works as a Standardized Patient at the Feinberg School of Medicine and teaches acting at Columbia College where he is in his 27th year of teaching there.

Hannah Perez

Hannah Perez (she/her) (Lady in Black) is a Cuban American actress and comedian based in Chicago.  Some of her favorite performing credits include Vice Principals (HBO) Pocus Hocus: A Virgin's Revenge (Rejected Sequel  Theatre) and They Could Give No Name (Northwestern University).  She can also be seen performing regularly with Improvised Jane Austen at the IO Theater. 

Squeek Rangel

Squeek Rangel (Mrs. Sweeny/The Ghost), when not an Irish woman thrilled by the occult, or a charming presence who adores the spirit of wager, is an improviser, voice actor and sketch comedian. You may have seen her in an improv show, on a Second City stage, and maybe even in a commercial or two. Above all, Squeek loves to play with humor and heart. She thanks her mom for that initial instinct, the Ghostlight Ensemble for the current opportunity and this very audience for the sustainability of it all. It’s an honor to perform alongside talented peers in worthwhile, historical spaces. 

Sydney Ray

Sydney Ray [she/her] (Mrs. Price/Anne) is delighted to be back at the Driehaus museum for this season’s production of Victorian ghost stories. Sydney is an actor and educator based in Chicago. Local theatre credits include: The Princess Without Pots (Ghostlight Ensemble Theater), The Wild Party (Music for Theatre Chicago), Into the Woods, Spoon River Anthology (E.D.G.E. Theatre) and Ruddigore (Savoyaires). She is an Ensemble Member with Ghostlight Ensemble Theater, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater from Nebraska Wesleyan University and recently graduated with her Master of Social Work from the University of Illinois Chicago. Big thanks to all her friends and family for their continuous love and support.

Guides

Maria Burnham

Maria Burnham [she/her] (Guide/Playwright) is thrilled to bring her love of horror to the holiday season once again. She’s excited to be back at the Driehaus Museum after last year’s sold-out performance of Holiday Spirits and hopes to continue frightening audiences for many years to come. She was also previously seen at the Driehaus acting in both The Shadow of A Doubt and Plays for Women!: A collection of overlooked suffrage plays. She may also be familiar to Ghostlight audiences as the director and playwright of Drink the Past Dry and from last year’s production of Alabama Story. Special thanks to her husband, Chad, who keeps letting her get pets and books on Victorian horror.

Jessye GRACE Mueller

Jessye Grace Mueller [she, her] (Guide/Host) is an actor, writer and improviser based in Chicago. Jessye is thrilled to return to Ghostlight Ensemble Theatre. Previous Ghostlight credits include: Plays for Women!: A collection of overlooked suffrage plays, Miss Elizabeth Bennett, Warp and Woof and Playoffs. Selected credits include Improvised Jane Austen (iO Chicago), Ask Your Doctor: A Pharmaceutical Musical, Trigger Happy! Lab Cast Season 5 (Annoyance Theatre), Buzzed Broadway (CSz Chicago), This American Lie, Mary Scruggs Works by Women Festival, Improvised Young Adult Fiction (de Maat Studio Theater), The Masterpiece Players Present: Improvised Masterpiece Theatre (Donny’s Skybox). Jessye has studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in its Experimental Theatre Wing and has her Bachelor of Arts in theatre and drama from Indiana University-Bloomington. She also studied in The Second City Training Center’s Conservatory and Music Conservatory. Jessye has also appeared on the podcasts Hello from The Magic Tavern, its spinoff series Usidore’s Fetching Quests and on The Topical, a daily podcast from The Onion.

Holly robison

Holly Robison [she/hers] (Guide/Director) is Co-Artistic Director of Ghostlight Ensemble and a Chicago-based director, actor and improvisor. Favorite directing credits include Alabama Story, An Ideal Husband, Picasso at the Lapin Agile and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also conceived Ghostlight's ongoing reading series, For Your (Re)Consideration, which explores historically overlooked works by female writers. She has directed a number of readings for this series, including Plays for Women! A Night of Suffrage Plays & Shadow of a Doubt at Driehaus Museum and The Woman of Colour, which she also co-adapted with Ghostlight Ensemble member Song Marshall. She has studied directing with various organizations, including the summer program, A Practical Approach to Directing at Yale School of Drama, and is a member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She is also a Cast Member and Producer with Improvised Jane Austen.