Ghostlight Repertory Theatre allows students to broaden their theatre horizons.
Ghostlight Repertory Theatre is a student-run organization that started on campus last spring to get more students involved in the performing arts.
It was named for the theater tradition of hanging a light on an unoccupied stage at night to keep the spirits of the theater happy.
Ghostlight provides opportunities for students to see what makes up a real theater company, such as direction, writing, sound design, fashion design, stage management, set design and light design.
The organization has community support from the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council at the Powerhouse and gets a helping hand from the theater department on campus.
Senior B.F.A. acting major and artistic director and Ghostlight president Adam Brooks explained why he got involved with the organization.
“I felt compelled to help and get involved with Ghostlight because of the fact that each student here has a story and since performing arts is a great medium. Theater, film, dance, music are great mediums to tell a story,” Brooks said.
“It is important that through those stories, they can find a way to communicate the things that they are trying to say. It’s not a therapy, it’s entertainment, but sometimes entertainment is therapy. ”
Because Ghostlight is student-run, there is more room for controversial or abstract ideas that traditionally would not be produced by the Ole Miss theatre department. It has already produced “The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged,” which was a very family-friendly show, and “Mother F—-R with the Hat,” which was on the opposite end of the spectrum.
“Last semester was a great semester for experimenting and seeing how minimally we could do a show, testing different waters,” Brooks said.
Next Tuesday, Feb. 12, will be Ghostlight’s premiere for this semester. “Jailbait” will run Feb. 12-16 at 7:30 each night and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 17 in Meek Auditorium.
To prepare for its April show, “Avenue Q,” Ghostlight will be holding a puppet-making workshop on Saturday, Feb. 9 from 8:30 a.m. t0 12:30 p.m.
Anyone is encouraged to stop by the costume shop on the bottom floor of Isom and help in the creative design process.
According to Brooks, “If you’ve got a story and you know it’s important, you know someone is going to get something out of what you have to say and someone is going to laugh about it, or someone is going to cry about it, or it is going to help someone understand something that they are going through, Ghostlight is the place for you.”
Meetings are Tuesdays at 5 p.m. in Meek Auditorium.
Next season’s shows will be selected at the Feb. 19 meeting.
Interested students must fill out a membership application and turn it into the Ghostlight folder in Isom.
For more more information, visit the website, ghostlightrep.org.
