John Gleason Teske

Meet the cast of ‘The 8th Dwarf’

(From Top L, clockwise): Sydney Ray, Amanda Elana de la Fuente, Yuni Mora and Drake St. Pierre

Ghostlight Ensemble is pleased to announce the cast and production team of our Nightlight production for young audiences, The 8th Dwarf by Olivia Sieck.

The play, which takes place in the world of Snow White, tells the story of Binkley, a shy outsider dwarf who dreams of joining the mythical seven. To do so Binkley will need to harness their courage, honesty and kindness to meet the challenges set to them by Snow White.

The cast of The 8th Dwarf is: Ensemble Member Sydney Ray with guest artists Amanda Elana de la Fuente, Drake St. Pierre and Yuni Mora.

The production team is: playwright Olivia Sieck, director John Gleason Teske, stage manager Anna Bundy, costume designer Kasey Wolfgang and producer Maria Burnham.

The 8th Dwarf shows us the power of courage, kindness and wit, and how those characteristics mean more than all the material goods in the world.

The production is part of our Nightlight young audiences series, which produces original, adapted and forgotten plays geared toward children and the adults who love them. The show takes place on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. from Feb. 7-15 at the Bughouse Theater (1910 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60613).

Tickets are on sale now. The 8th Dwarf is part of Chicago Theatre Week 2026, which runs from Feb. 5 to Feb. 15 and offers value-priced tickets for 75 shows across the city at $30, $15 or even less.  A limited number of Theatre Week tickets are still available for this show.

Up Next: A live reading of The Big Lebowski

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: The Dude Abides: A Live Reading of The Big Lebowski.

Join us at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, at Black Eagle Club (1938 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60613), and we’ll raise a White Russian to this Coen Brothers classic!

The Big Lebowski is a 1998 crime comedy film written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. All Jeff ‘the Dude’ Lebowski wants to do is go bowling, but when he’s mistaken for L.A. millionaire — the titular Big Lebowski — and a pair of thugs pee on his rug, he’s forced to take action. And so the laziest man in Los Angeles County takes on nihilists, ferrets and empire tycoons, guzzling White Russians all the while.

Cast:

Jeff ‘the Dude’ Lebowski: Nick Conrad
Walter Sobchak: Chad Wise
Maude Lebowski: Jill Meyer
Theodore Donald 'Donny' Kerabatsos: Johnny Moran
The Big Lebowski: Kiel Walker
Ensemble: Christopher Paul Mueller, Jean E. Mueller-Burr, Shantelle Rose Robbel and Naomi Waxman

The reading is directed by John Gleason Teske.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season.

Up Next: A Live Reading of 10 Things I Hate About You

10Things.jpg

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series with Hell is Just a Sauna: A Live Reading of 10 Things I Hate About You.

So dig out all that late 90s feminist poetry you wrote and your crop tops and join us at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 27 at Carbon Arc Bar & Board (4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625), located in the Davis Theater in North Center.

10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American romantic comedy retelling of William Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew set in a late-1990s high school. New student Cameron is smitten with Bianca and, in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating, attempts to get bad boy Patrick to date Bianca's ill-tempered sister, Kat.

The live reading is directed by John Gleason Teske.