Turning the Ghost Light back on

Tapping microphone . . . is this thing on?

Welcome to the first Ghost Light column of 2025. Yes, I realize it’s almost the end of March. But time is a flat tire, and this year has already been a lot to deal with. (The rise of fascism and some unexpected struggles for the Reader are among my excuses for the radio silence.)

At any rate, today is World Theatre Day, which would be its own good reason to turn the light back on here. But this week also included the 51st Non-Equity Jeff Awards ceremony, honoring the best in local theaters that aren’t operating on the union Equity contract—in other words, smaller and generally lower-budget companies. “Theater prom,” as it has been known colloquially for years, took place on Monday, March 24, at the Harris Theater downtown (a switch from the ceremony’s longtime home at the Park West). And it was a night filled with joy, solidarity, and heartfelt remarks, many noting that the support and strength of the theater community have become even more important in recent months.

Cohosted by Frankie Leo Bennett and NK Gutiérrez, under the direction of Adrian Abel Azevedo and with music direction by Dr. Michael McBride, the ceremony took three hours but generally moved at a pretty good pace. (Bennett warned people to avoid the Adrien Brody approach to their speeches.)

Shortest acceptance speech of the night? Tyler Anthony Smith, who won for principal role in a musical as Hedwig in Haven’s final production, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Smith pulled out a piece of paper, proclaimed “I love anal sex,” and then strutted offstage with his fellow recipient, Colette Todd. (Todd was recognized for playing Desirée Armfeldt in Theoʼs A Little Night Music; the Jeff Committee eliminated gendered categories for performance in both the Equity and Non-Equity Awards several years ago. There were several ties in the performance categories this year.)

This year, in addition to performances of songs from nominated musicals, the nominees for best production of a play were included either by behind-the-scenes videos or monologues from the shows. As has been the case since the pandemic, the Non-Equity Jeff Awards also incorporate categories for short runs (a welcome addition, since several non-Equity companies can’t afford longer runs but still produce excellent work).

The big winner of the night was Kokandy Productionsʼs staging of Into the Woods, which won five awards: best production of a musical, best ensemble in a musical, best director of a musical (Derek Van Barham), music direction (Nick Sula), and artistic specialization, which went to the three-member team responsible for orchestration (Sula, Ariana Miles, and Evelyn Ryan). The production, staged in the small Chopin Theatre basement space, reorchestrated Stephen Sondheim’s score for just two pianos. In his acceptance speech, Barham noted that when he got a text from Sula during the preliminary planning process just reading, “Two pianos?,” he responded with “Horny.”

In their acceptance speech, the orchestrating trio pulled out a piece of paper and promised that it wasn’t as long as it looked. After thanking their Kokandy collaborators, friends, and family, they noted that the flip side of the paper “just says ‘trans rights!’ 100 times!”—one of many shoutouts for queer and trans rights and Black Lives Matter delivered during the evening. 

While talking about First Floor Theaterʼs production of Brynne Frauenhoffer’s Pro-Am, cast member and trans woman Angelíca Grace urged the audience to “make some noise for trans women of color!” Frauenhoffer’s play about sex workers living together in a house in Miami shared the award for best new work with Erik Gernand’s The Totality of All Things at Redtwist, and Rebecca Willingham won for directing the First Floor production. Gernand’s show also won longtime Redtwist ensemble member Jacqueline Grandt an award for principal performance in a play, and Grandt, who notes she just turned 60, delivered one of the more jubilant speeches of the evening.

Open Space Arts, which produces in a basement even smaller than the Chopin, took home four awards: for best production in a short run for Mike Bartlett’s Cock, Sonya Robinson for performer in a supporting role in a short run for Cock, Phillip Andrew Monnett for performer in a principal role in a short run for Dave Osmundsen’s Light Switch, and Michael D. Graham for director of a short run for Light Switch.

City Lit Theater also had a good night, taking home two awards for their production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (best production of a play and best supporting performance in a play for Robert Howard) and one award in costume design for Patti Roeder’s work in T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, staged by former City Lit artistic director Terry McCabe in the sanctuary of the company’s home in the Edgewater Presbyterian Church rather than their smaller second-floor theater.

Refracted Theatre Companyʼs unnervingly timely production from last fall of Laura Winters’s Coronation, about the defeat of a woman for president of the United States that unspools into a dystopia of environmental disaster, out-of-control AI, and other apocalyptic events, won three awards: for Garrett Bell’s lighting design, Abboye Lawrence’s projections design, and Jodi Gage’s supporting performance.

A special award went to the Theatre School at DePaul University (full disclosure: I’m an adjunct instructor there) in recognition of “its 100-year legacy of training exceptional artists and its profound influence on the Chicago theater community and beyond.”

New this year to the Non-Equity Jeff Awards is a category known as the Impresario Award, honoring excellence in stage management. Since stage management by definition happens behind the scenes, the Jeff committee solicited nominations from theaters themselves for worthy candidates. Jeff Committee chair John Glover shared remarks from the theaters about all the nominees. The first recipient, Kyle Aschbrenner, was honored for his work with Blank Theatre Company. Co-artistic director and founder Danny Kapinos noted onstage that one way to know if a stage manager is good is if you find yourself asking them after the first collaboration, “What do your plans look like for the fall?” and also noted that Blank has now worked with Aschbrenner five times.

What came through most clearly at this year’s awards was a sense of defiance and hope in community. Alicia Berneche, who won for a supporting role in a musical for her performance in Blank’s production of On the Twentieth Century, went from making a joke about drawing penises on the callboard to an emotional recollection about growing up in an abusive household and finding a safe home in theater. In his acceptance speech for Light Switch, Monnett thanked his supportive parents for how they “raised a gay kid in Texas in the 90s.” 

Perhaps the most appropriate rejoinder to the current political moment came from Bide Akande, who won for principal role in a play for his portrayal of Bérenger, the man who resists the mindless and malevolent groupthink in Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist classic Rhinoceros, staged by Theatre Y. “To all the rhinoceroses out there—we will never join you!” Akande declared.

A fitting cri de coeur for World Theatre Day and every day.

A complete list of Non-Equity Jeff Award nominees and winners is at jeffawards.org