La Luna Productions presents Elaina Erika Davis, Karen Lee and more in Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei’s GHOST LIGHT: THE HAUNTING through Nov. 8

Ghost Light: The Haunting. Photograph: Michael Blase

La Luna Productions is presenting GHOST LIGHT: THE HAUNTING, based on Yotsuya Ghost Tales, the Kabuki play inspired by the legend of a horribly betrayed woman named Oiwa. Written by award winning playwright, Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei and produced and directed by Emmy Award Winning Penny Bergman, the production began previews on October 23rd, and will have a special opening night performance on Halloween evening at midnight at TBG Theatre, 312 West 36th St. in Manhattan. The limited engagement continues through November 8th.

GHOST LIGHT: THE HAUNTING tells the story of a Japanese-American actress who returns from the dead to wreak vengeance on the ambitious husband who betrayed her. A contemporary fusion of Macbeth and the Kabuki Yotsuya Ghost Tales, the popular Japanese ghost story that has been adapted for film and stage over 30 times, and that continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today.

Keiko (Kay) Tamiya, descendant of the original Oiwa, gives birth to a baby girl and wins a Primetime Emmy on the same day. Her husband and co-star, also nominated, loses out to his arch rival. Kay and Bryan are riding high as America’s favorite couple with an unbreakable contract binding them together — love, devotion, partners at home and at work. When both are offered the leads in Macbeth on Broadway, Bryan’s thrill at playing the role of a lifetime is dashed by Keiko’s disgust at the director’s concept for Lady Macbeth: a stereotypical, derogatory depiction of Asian women. Keiko rejects the job and wants Bryan to stand in solidarity and give up his plum part as well.

The cast of GHOST LIGHT: THE HAUNTING features Elaina Erika Davis, Greg Brostrom, Patrick Goss, Darlene Tejeiro, Mike Basile, Karen Lee, Lynn Guerra, Mami Kimura, Tyler Pino.

Playwright Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei is a playwright and director, as well as a specialist in Japanese theatre and intercultural performance. She is Professor Emerita of Theatre at UCLA, noted translator and the author of Unspeakable Acts: The Avant-Garde Theatre of Terayama Shuji and Postwar Japan. In 2014, she was named a Founding Mother of Asian Theatre Studies. The playwright is the author of the multiple award-winning Medea: A Noh Cycle Based on the Greek Myth, the kabuki-flamenco Blood Wine, Blood Wedding, A Wilderness of Monkeys (a revenge-comedy “sequel” to The Merchant of Venice), and co-adapter with Israeli director Zvika Serper of The Dybbuk/Between Two Worlds. Ghost Light: The Haunting is her sixteenth play.

Director Penny Bergman is the winner of two Emmy Awards (thirteen nominations) for LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER and ALL MY CHILDREN. Nominated for nine Director’s Guild of America Awards. Recent directing credits: The 39 Steps, Moonlight and Magnolias. Director/Producer: SAKURA and HANA – Tales of The Bandit Princess by Kikue Tashiro in NYC, National Tour and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Five Star Reviews). Writer/Director/Producer: Hot Flashes aka Laugh Lines, The Honolulu Boy Choir, Incredible Instant Theater Improvisation Ensemble, Strangers In Paradise, Live Wires. Television Production Stage Manager/First AD: All My Children (ABC-TV and iTunes/Hulu Online), Live From Lincoln Center, Museum Of The Moving Image Salutes, NBC’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center, Comedy Central’s Dave Attell Uncensored. MFA, University of Hawai’i with Kabuki Training from Japan’s National Living Treasure Nakamura Matagoro.

Joel Elins is the Production Stage Manager, Matthew Miller is the Scenic Designer, Eric Nightengale is the Lighting Designer, Gina Cercone is the Costume Designer, B.H. Barry is the Fight Director, Norman Bryn is the Make-Up and Hair Designer. Blayze Teicher is the Assistant Director, Elonna Bettini is the Wardrobe Supervisor and Alexandra Tenenbaum is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Performances of GHOST LIGHT are Wednesdays – Sundays at 7:30PM; Saturday matinees (October 24 and November 7) at 2PM. Special Opening Night Halloween (October 31st) performance at Midnight.

Tickets to GHOST LIGHT are $18 and available online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek, which will screen at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival on November 21st. She is profiled in FebOne1960.com Blog, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.

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