*Courtney Marie (L) and Shane Novoa Rhoades in American Son at Ghostlight Ensemble. (Photo by Maria Burnham/For Ghostlight Ensemble)*

Ghostlight Ensemble’s production of American Son, written by Christopher Demos-Brown and directed by Ebby Offord, continues this week with the first of five shows (including an understudy performance) beginning tomorrow.

Audiences and reviewers have felt the visceral impact of this timely story with the location, layered acting and strong direction driving home the reality of this drama.

“This play is fantastic, yet is a hard watch. It will make you feel confronted — which good theatre should do. Yes, sometimes theatre needs to be fun and give joy — and sometimes it needs to portray the harsh reality of our world.” — Lisa with TheatreinChicago

American Son is a story about an estranged couple desperately seeking answers to the whereabouts of their teenage son, who has gone missing after an encounter with the police. As Kendra, a Black mother, and Scott, her white husband, wait for information, their clashing perspectives expose deep-seated issues of race, privilege and systemic bias.

“Ghostlight Ensemble’s production and the setting highlight the sad ongoing relevance of American Son for too many Black parents and their children, who battle microaggressions daily and hope they don’t escalate to something even worse, with no clear answers provided by the people sworn to serve and protect.” — Kerry Reid, The Chicago Reader.

The production is led by Ensemble Member Courtney Marie as Kendra and Ensemble Member Khnemu Menu-Ra as Lt. Stokes with Shane Novoa Rhoades as Scott and Derek Preston Ray as Officer Paul Larkin. Understudies are Terah Jené, Eric K. Roberts, Kyle Roth and Ryan Ken.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 24; Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 27. There is an understudy performance at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 28. The show runs through October 4 at Friendship Community Place (5150 N Northwest Highway, Chicago, IL 60630).

Tickets are pay-what-you-will and are available now.

American Son is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com.

Ghostlight Ensemble continues its series on historically overlooked female playwrights with two one act plays — Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar Nelson and War Brides by Marion Craig Wentworth — that deal with wars and the battles families are forced to fight amongst themselves when someone is called to “serve.”

What attracted director Angelisa Gillyard to these scripts is their examination of war not from the soldier’s point of view, but as it is experienced by those left behind when soldiers go off to fight.

“Coming from a family in which many of the men have served in the military and fought on the front lines of war, I was immediately intrigued by Mine Eyes Have Seen,” Gillyard said. “I wondered how they came to their decisions to serve. Did they struggle with determining to whom they owe their greatest duty — family or country?

“I also wanted to explore war from a woman’s point of view, and thus War Brides was a natural choice. Women’s voices are not typically heard in conversations about war and this play brings them to the forefront.”

Written in the final years of World War I, Mine Eyes Have Seen is the story of a Black family that fled the South after the father’s lynching. His wife dies of heartbreak leaving their three children to fend for themselves. The children are now young adults, but Lucy, the youngest, and Dan, the oldest, are reliant on their brother, Chris, to support them. When Chris is drafted, he is forced to wrestle with the idea of serving a country that has not served his family. The play is an examination on the nature of patriotism, citizenship, sacrifice and what those mean for people who have been betrayed by their own country.

Published in 1915, War Brides looks at the role of women in supporting war at the home front, and the expectations that they willingly send their husbands and sons to die in wars. It highlights one woman’s determination, after her loss of a husband and brothers to war, to no longer become a tool for war. The play also demands that if women are expected to work and sacrifice for war, they should be given full voice in the decisions to go to war.

The cast for both shows is: Tai Alexander, Charles Franklin, Marcus John, Sydney Johnson, Ben Lauer, Bryanda Minix, Deidre Staples and Lindsay Williams. Angelisa Gillyard is a Washington, D.C.-based director who has worked with Young Playwrights’ Theater, Arena Stage, In Series, Studio Theatre, Freshh Theatre Inc, University of Maryland and Montgomery College. Full bios of the actors, director and playwright will be available on Ghostlight’s website at http://www.ghostlightensemble.com/mine-eyes-have-seen

The initial broadcast of Mine Eyes Have Seen and War Brides takes place over Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 18, and a talkback with the director will take place immediately following. A recording of the performance will be available to stream through May 9.

Tickets are pay what you will, with a minimum of $5 per reading and the average donation for such virtual offerings at $15. Tickets are available on our website at GhostlightEnsemble.com/For-Your-Reconsideration. Please make sure to select the production and performance you are interested in receiving a link to view.

Featuring a variety of distinct voices and styles from different historical periods, For Your (Re)Consideration seeks to bring attention to remarkable women who have been sidelined by history for reasons that had nothing to do with their talent and everything to do with their gender and, in many cases, their race. The series is curated by Ensemble Member Holly Robison.

The initial play in the series, The Convent of Pleasure, written by Margaret Cavendish and directed by Andrew Coopman, premiered on April 2 and is now streaming on-demand, as is Distinguished Villa, written by Kate O’Brien and directed by Elizabeth Lovelady, which premiered on April 11.

Additional upcoming readings include:

April 25: Warp and Woof by Edith Lyttelton, directed by Christina Casano
May 2: The Enchantment by Victoria Benedictsson, adapted by Clare Bayley, directed by Holly Robison

Find out more about For Your (Re)Consideration and the entire 2020-2021 Season at GhostlightEnsemble.com.

Review: 'American Son is a story many of us need to see and experience'

Toll of war on those devalued by society examined in Mine Eyes Have Seen, War Brides