GHOST LIGHT: THE HAUNTING Begins at TBG Theatre Next Month

La Luna Productions has announced that it will present 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 previews begin on October 23rd with a special opening night performance on Halloween evening at midnight and will continue through November 8th at TBG Theatre, 312 West 36th St. in Manhattan.

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.

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. She 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.

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.

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

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