Up Next: A Live Reading of Reality Bites

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series with You And Me And Five Bucks: A Live Reading of Reality Bites.

So dig out your best Gen X ennui and join us at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, August 26 at Carbon Arc Bar & Board (4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625), located in the Davis Theater in North Center.

Reality Bites is a 1994 romantic comedy/drama that follows the lives of recently graduation Gen Xers as they navigate the pitfalls of life, love and the search for gainful employment. The plot centers on Lelaina (played by Winona Ryder), an aspiring videographer, who is working on a documentary called Reality Bites about the disenfranchised lives of her friends and roommates.

The live reading is directed by Maria Burnham.

There is a suggested donation of Five Bucks at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season. We’re also raising funds for Blue Sky Bakery & Cafe, a nonprofit cafe in North Center that provides transitional job skills to at-risk youth and also provides an excellent place to grab a cup of coffee and a little bit of conversation.

Up Next: A Live Reading of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series with Don’t Call Me Junior: A Live Reading of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

So dust off that brown leather fedora, get that whip cracking and join us at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 6 at Carbon Arc Bar & Board (4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625), located in the Davis Theater in North Center, to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the movie’s release.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and is the third installment in the Indiana Jones franchise. It was release in the United States on May 24, 1989. In Last Crusade, the intrepid explorer Indiana Jones sets out to rescue his father, a medievalist who has vanished while searching for the Holy Grail. Following clues in the old man's notebook, Indy arrives in Venice, where he enlists the help of a beautiful academic, but they are not the only ones who are on the trail, and some sinister old enemies soon come out of the woodwork.

The live reading is directed by Chad Wise.

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

Up Next: As If!: A Live Reading of Clueless

With the cast of Clueless in town for C2E2, what better time to brush off the 1995 rom-com script and give it a unique, Ghostlight Ensemble treatment?!

So dig out your plaid skirts and knee-high socks and join us at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 25 at Carbon Arc Bar & Board (4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625), located in the Davis Theater in North Center.

Clueless is loosely based on the Jane Austen novel Emma and tells the story of a shallow, rich and socially successful girl at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking order who sees herself as a matchmaker. She takes on a "tragically unhip" new girl at school as a pet project, initiating her into the ways of the popular kids. But things backfire on her when the new girl surpasses her in popularity. Hijinks and love debacles ensue.

After the live reading, Carbon Arc will be playing the movie Clueless, so stick around for a side-by-side comparison!

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

Up Next: Spice World Returns!

This month we bring back our third annual live reading of the Spice World movie. And unlike the ACTUAL Spice Girls, we’ve got more Poshes than we can handle!

Join Ginger (Caitlin Jackson), Scary (Song Marshall), Sporty (Jean E. Burr), Baby (Carrie Campana) and Posh (Emma Palizza) as they gallivant around England (with a short jaunt to Italy) in advance of their first live concert to be held at London's Royal Albert Hall . Spice World turned 21 this year (in America…it was first released in England 21 years ago December), so we’re taking this film out to a bar to celebrate!

Grab a gin and tonic (better make that a double) and join us for this live reading (and singing) that takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, at the Celtic Crown, located at the corner of Western Avenue and Cullom Avenue.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its current season, plus an additional donation of any amount for GirlForward, a Chicago-based non-profit with its own brand of Girl Power!

Up Next: Must Eat TV: A(nother) Live Reading of Your Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes

Ghostlight Ensemble brings back the popular Thanksgiving installment of its ongoing live movie reading series, Must Eat TV 2: A Live Reading of Your Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes.

Thanksgiving is all about stuffing yourself silly with family and friends; screaming matches over politics with your great uncle Carl; giving thanks; and television. So join your Ghostlight family, friends and great uncle Carl for a celebration of everyone's favorite eating holiday.

The lineup features selections from New Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Cheers at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 14, 2018, at My Buddy’s.

The live reading is directed by Miona Lee.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season, AND a non-perishable good or additional cash donation to benefit Common Pantry, of North Center.

Find out more on the show page!

Up Next: Oh My Godddddd!!: A Troll 2 Live Reading

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: Oh My Godddddd!!: A Troll 2 Live Reading.

Join us at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, at My Buddy's (4416 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640) to kick your season of Halloween celebrations off to a frightful start — not because the movie is scary, just scary bad.

Troll 2 is a 1990 horror film that has nothing to do with trolls or the movie to which its title claims to be a sequel. The plot concerns a family pursued by vegetarian goblins who seek to transform them into plants so that they can eat them. It is widely considered to be the worst film ever made.

The reading is directed by Christopher Paul Mueller.

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

Up Next: God Loves A Terrier: A Best In Show Live Reading

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: God Loves A Terrier: A Best In Show Live Reading to benefit Ghostlight and the non-profit organization New Leash On Life.

Join us at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5, 2018, at My Buddy's (4416 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640), and make sure you bring you Busy Bee!

Best In Show is a 2000 American mockumentary comedy film co-written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy. The film follows five entrants in the prestigious Mayflower Dog Show, and focuses on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers, as they travel to the show and compete, as well as the aftermath of the competition.

The reading is directed by Miona Lee.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season, AND an additional donation for New Leash On Life, a North Center-based non-profit that is committed to finding loving homes for shelter dogs who might otherwise be euthanized.

Thanks to everyone who attended Make A Move & The Bunny Gets It

We had a full house for our live reading of Con Air last night at Carbon Arc Bar & Board. Thank you to everyone who attended and who donated to Chicago Veterans.

If you weren't able to attend, but want to donate to this local charity, which helps veterans readjust to civilian life (OR if you did attend and want to give more money to the cause), you can donate through the organizations website at ChicagoVeterans.org.

Our next Live Reading will be in July (exact date TBA) and we'll bringing the cult hit film The Sandlot to life in celebration of the 25th anniversary of its release.

Up Next: Make A Move & The Bunny Gets It: A Con Air Live Reading

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: Make A Move & The Bunny Gets It: A Con Air Live Reading.

Join us at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 7, at Carbon Arc Bar & Board (4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625), located in the Davis Theater in North Center.

Con Air is the 1997 action film starring Nicolas Cage as former war hero Cameron Poe. Poe is sentenced to eight years in prison when he accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl. When his release comes through, he's eager to see the daughter he's never met, but he finds himself aboard a flight transporting ten of the most dangerous men in the American penal system. When the criminals hijack the plane, Poe has to find a way to get home, keep himself alive, look after his cellmate Baby-O — who will die without proper medicine  — and try to help the cops on the ground.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season, AND an additional donation for Chicago Veterans, a non-profit that helps service members and their families in the Chicagoland area transitioning back to civilian life.

Up Next: Cup of Ambition: A 9 to 5 Live (Movie) Reading

Ghostlight Ensemble presents a special Woman's History Month installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: Cup of Ambition: A 9 to 5 Live (Movie) Reading.

Join us at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at the Celtic Crown (2356 W Cullom Ave, Chicago, IL 60618) in North Center, as we fight sexual harassment and discrimination in the back room of a bar. 

9 to 5 follows three female office workers who get revenge on their tyrannical, sexist boss by abducting him (after realizing they hadn't just killed him — it'll make more sense if you just come to the reading) and running the business themselves.  Please note, this is a reading of the MOVIE starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton, not the inevitable musical adaptation that came later.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season, AND an additional donation (we suggest another $5) for GirlForward, a North Side non-profit organization that mentors adolescent refugee girls and provides educational programs and leadership opportunities.

Celebrating 20 years of 'Spice World'

To celebrate 20 years of Girl Power, platform sneakers and Union Jack dresses, Ghostlight Ensemble presents Girl power!: Celebrating 20 Years of Spice World (A Live Reading). Join our girls as they read and sing all the Girl Power hits that you know and love from this modern cinematic classic.

Spice World, released in the U.S. 20 years ago on January 23, is a British musical comedy starring the 1990s pop sensation known as the Spice Girls (who all play over-the-top versions of themselves in the movie). The lighthearted comedy follows the girls on a series of events leading up to their first live concert to be held at London's Royal Albert Hall, with plenty of dream sequences, flashbacks, flashforwards and surreal moments scattered in between.

The Spice Girls are: Caitlin Jackson as Geri (Ginger), Song Marshall as Mel B (Scary), Jean E. Burr as Mel C (Sporty), Carrie Campana as Emma (Baby) and Maura Hogan as Victoria (Posh).

The full cast list is available on the show page.

The reading takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 23, at the Celtic Crown, located at the corner of Western Avenue and Cullom Avenue. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its current season.

Thanks to all who attended Must Eat TV

From left: Miona Lee,  Dennis Davies, Nick Conrad, Christopher Paul Mueller, Paul Tinsley and Jean E. Burr in How I Met Your Mother's Slapsgiving episode. (Photo by Dana Tedesco)

Thanks to everyone who attended Must Eat TV, the latest installment of our live movie reading series, on Tuesday night. We enjoyed sharing our traditional English trifle with you all, as we watched faces get slapped and turkeys get dropped from the sky.

We also want to thank our audience for their generosity in donating to Common Pantry. Thanks to you, a lot of people's lives will be made a little better during this season of thanks. You are truly amazing.

Help us combat hunger by donating to Common Pantry at Must Eat TV

Our mission at Ghostlight doesn't focus just on how we can effect change from the stage, but what we can do beyond the boards. So, while our Live Reading series is an opportunity for fun, it is also an opportunity to do more.

For this month's performance on Tuesday, November 14, we'll be collecting donations for Common Pantry.

Common Pantry, located in North Center, was founded in 1967 to combat hunger and food insecurity in specific north side neighborhoods in Chicago. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s mission is to meet the emergency food needs of the community through weekly food distributions, home delivery to elderly clients, its hot lunch program and its monthly distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables on Produce Day. Through the Common Community Program, it helps individuals and families address the root causes of food insecurity and poverty by assisting with benefit applications, job searches, housing issues and services to the homeless.

While the organization collects canned good and other non-perishable food items, they also have a Personal Care Wish List, which is just as important. We encourage those coming to Must Eat TV to consider bringing razors, soap, deodorant, diapers, toothpaste and feminine hygiene products. You can find the entire Wish List here.

Must Eat TV featured in Chicago Magazine

Chicago Magazine calls our live movie reading series "always entertaining," so don't miss the latest installment in which we trade the big screen for the small one to celebrate Turkey Day.

Must Eat TV: A Live Reading of Your Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes is coming up on Tuesday, November 14, 2017, at the Celtic Crown. The lineup features selections from How I Met Your Mother, Friends and WKRP in Cincinnati Click on the link above for all the details! We'll see you turkeys there!

Celebrate Thanksgiving with some Must Eat TV

Ghostlight will present a special Thanksgiving installment of its ongoing live reading series, this time subbing out the small screen for the big.

Must Eat TV: A Live Reading of Your Favorite Thanksgiving Episodes will feature selections from How I Met Your Mother, Friends and WKRP in Cincinnati at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 14, at the Celtic Crown (2356 W Cullom Ave, Chicago, IL 60618).

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight fund its upcoming season, AND a non-perishable good or additional cash donation to benefit Common Pantry, of North Center.

Put on those pants with the elastic waist and get ready to give thanks for some classic TV gems!

A Live Reading of Shaun of The Dead

Ghostlight is doing a special edition of our live movie reading series in October themed for Halloween.

Join us for You've Got READ On You: A Shaun of The Dead Live Reading at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 17, at the Celtic Crown (2356 W Cullom Ave, Chicago, IL 60618).

Things may get a little bite-y, so grab a nice cold pint and wait for all of this to blow over.

Check out all the details, including cast, on the special events page here.

A Live Reading of A League of Their Own

The next installment in our ongoing live movie reading series has arrived.

Join us for There’s No Crying in Theatre: A League of Their Own Live Reading at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 23, at the Celtic Crown (2356 W Cullom Ave, Chicago, IL 60618).

We're celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the movie's release by jamming a baseball team's worth of actresses in a back room of a bar and performing some Grand Slam feats of entertainment.

Check out all the details, including cast, on the special events page here.

Save the Date for another live movie reading!

Your actors were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should...

Ghostlight Ensemble presents the next installment of its ongoing live movie reading series: Something Has Survived: A Jurassic Park Live Reading.

Join us on 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28, at the Celtic Crown (2356 W Cullom Ave, Chicago, IL 60618) in Lincoln Square, for all the dinosaurs we can jam into the backroom of a bar.

Jurassic Park (for those who have been fossilized in amber for the last 24 years) is a 1993 science-fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the book of the same name by Michael Crichton about an industrialist and his bio-engineering company that created a theme park island called Jurassic Park populated with cloned dinosaurs. Unsurprisingly this doesn't go as smoothly as planned, dinosaurs being dinosaurs and all. People die, dinosaurs die, many sequels were spawned.

Join our motley cast of actors as they try to recreate a chase scene with a T-Rex and kitchen full of velociraptors. Grab a beer. Try not to get eaten.

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

Join us for an oversized dose of Girl Power in February!

From left: Emma Palizza as Posh, Jean E. Burr as Sporty, Song Marshall as Scary, Caitlin Jackson as Ginger and Carrie Campana as Baby

Ghostlight Ensemble presents a live reading of the Spice World screenplay, complete with our Spices singing all the Girl Power hits that you know and love from this modern cinematic classic.

Spice World is a British musical comedy starring the 1990s pop sensation known as the Spice Girls (who all play over-the-top versions of themselves in the movie). The lighthearted comedy follows the girls on a series of events leading up to their first live concert to be held at London's Royal Albert Hall, with plenty of dream sequences, flashbacks, flashforwards and surreal moments scattered in between.

Our cast includes: Caitlin Jackson as Geri (Ginger); Song Marshall as Mel B (Scary); Jean E. Burr as Mel C (Sporty); Carrie Campana as Emma (Baby) and Emma Palizza as Victoria (Posh), with Mark Lancaster as Clifford/ Richard E. Grant; Pearl Paramadilok as Nicola; Noah Berman as Piers/ Alan Cumming; Holly Robison as Deborah/ Claire Rushbrook and various female roles; Chad Wise as Dennis, Movie Producer and Damien/ Richard O'Brien; Sean Harklerode as The Chief, Kevin McMaxford, Mr. Step and Elton John;  Kirk Jackson as Enzo/ David Fahm, Brad, Elvis Costello and various male roles; and Christopher Paul Mueller as Graydon, Jess/ Steven O'Donnel, Bob Geldof and various male roles.

Grab a pint and join us for this one-night only event that takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 22, in the backroom of the Rugby Pub (formerly Black Rock), 3614 N. Damen Ave., Chicago.

There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door, which will help Ghostlight pay for its spring show, Six Characters in Search of an Author.