Hungry Ghost (2023)
Written by Lisa Sanaye Dring
Directed by Jessica Hanna
A World Premiere
Dean and her partner Amanda are getting ready to start a family in a secluded house Dean inherited from her estranged mother. But, their future begins to unravel when their new home is burgled by a mysterious hermit—a Stevie Nicks worshiping, hot Cheetos eating trickster—who haunts the forest.
Hungry Ghost is a frighteningly funny meditation on identity and isolation, seeing and being seen, and the insatiable hunger in us all to be truly free.
SCHEDULE
Skylight Theatre:
Aug 26 - Oct 1
Previews: Aug 19, 20 & 25
Prices range from $20 - $38
Friday/Saturday - 8:30PM
Sunday - 3:00PM
Monday - 7:30PM
95 minutes; No Intermission.
Limited Late Seating.
Pay It Forward Tickets support Free and Discount Tickets to improve access to theater.
Promo Code discounts are Advance Sale only.
A limited number of PWYC tickets are available Sep 3 - Sep 23. Use Promo Code: ACCESS to activate.
ASL Interpreted Perf: Sep 10
Age Advisory: 14+ years old.
Skylight Theatre Company productions are intended for an adult audience; children under 6 years of age will not be admitted.
Theater Is For Everyone.
If you need assistance contact us at Connect@SkylightTheatre.org
Local Box Office: (213) 761-7061
Due to COVID, staff may not be present at all times. Please leave a message.
World Premiere
2022/2023 Season
MASKS REQUIRED FOR SELECT PERFORMANCES
Masks are no longer required – but are encouraged – for audiences in our theater and lobby areas.
Sunday matinee performances have been designated as "Mask Required" to accommodate our immunocompromised patrons who are still at high risk and patrons who feel more comfortable attending with an audience that is fully masked.
BEYOND
CONVERSATION
Enhance your experience with a special guest chat. Join us for a free moderated chat that explores topics suggested by the play.
Follows immediately after selected performances. Guests without day-of performance tickets enter during the break after the play has ended. If you can't be there for the live event, a recording will be made available on our YouTube channel.
Scene Shift: US Designers in Conversation | September 10, 2023
Join us for a conversation among the writers and editors of Scene Shift: US Designers in Conversation. Curious about what it takes to create the designs for theater productions? The designers on this panel will provide insight into the perspectives of a new generation of designers and their creative career pathways.
In Conversation: Luis Alfaro and Lisa Sanaye Dring | September 17, 2023
Lisa Sanaye Dring, playwright of Hungry Ghost, is joined in conversation with MacArthur Genius Grantee Luis Alfaro on the world of magical realism. When bits of magic are intertwined into storytelling, we not only create worlds filled with wonder, but we can also gain deeper understanding into a character's state of mind. Delve into a conversation with two storytellers who use magical realism throughout their bodies of work.
Motherhood as a Woman of Color | September 24, 2023
Randé Dorn, LMFT, facilitates a conversation among women of color on motherhood through the prism of the themes in Hungry Ghost: Queer motherhood, interracial parenting, and maintaining one's sense of self.
MEDIA
2023
THE ARTISTS OF HUNGRY GHOST
Lisa Sanaye Dring
Playwright
will have two world premiere stage productions running simultaneously this year at Skylight Theatre (Hungry Ghost) and at the La Jolla Playhouse with Ma-Yi Theater Company (SUMO). She has recently worked on multiple projects with Meow Wolf and was a member of the Geffen Playhouse Writers' Room. Lisa was honored as a recipient of the 2020/21 PLAY LA Stage Raw/Humanitas Prize. Her play The Wicked Onewas a finalist for the Relentless Award, a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, a finalist for the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin, a piece she co-wrote with Chelsea Sutton, was nominated for 8 Ovation Awards including Best Production (winner of 5). Lisa's work has been developed/produced by LA’s top theatre companies, and nationwide. She was a member of East West Players’ Playwrights Group and has been awarded fellowships at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center and Yaddo. Her play SUMO was recently named as a finalist for the O'Neill Playwrights Conference and was a part of La Jolla Playhouse's DNA New Works Series. Lisa graduated from the University of Southern California. She was awarded the 2021 Dorothy and Granville Hicks Residency at Yaddo, which honors one promising young writer a year. Lisa is working on commissions for Antaeus Theatre Company and Rogue Artists Ensemble. She has been nominated for an Emmy for her work as a writer and director.
Jessica Hanna
Director
is a Los Angeles based director, producer, space maker, member of The Kilroys, Chair of SITI Company’s Board of Directors, and co-founded of the Bootleg Theater. Her focus as a director is on new works development, most recently directing the world premiere of 3 Little Girls Down a Well at Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theatre NYC (2023), and Lottie Plachett Took a Hatchet, in Los Angeles and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2022), both written by Justin Elizabeth Sayre. Selected directing credits include works at Circle X (the world premiere of Deathplay, written & performed by Lisa Sanaye Dring), Celebration Theatre (Ovation Award winning Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), Bootleg Theater, Inkwell Theatre, UCLA, CalState University Long Beach, CalArts, Adobe Rose Theatre (Hostage by Michelle Kholos Brooks), Santa Fe Playhouse (#Undertheinfluence by Kristin Goodman), and Orlando Opera (As One). Jessica is the producing artistic director of Outside In Theatre, a new non-profit theatre company working at the intersection of Theatre and Digital, based in Highland Park, CA.
Tasha Ames
Actor
is thrilled to finally be working with the Skylight Theatre and Jessica Hanna; two LA theatre legends. Born and raised in Southern California, she attended NYU’s Tisch before graduating from USC (BFA Theatre). Theatre highlights: Do You Feel Anger? and Trevor (Circle X), Hooded Or Being Black For Dummies (Echo Theater), Miss Lilly Gets Boned and Honky (Rogue Machine), Kimberly Akimbo and Rabbit Hole (Malibu Stage--Ovation Winner "Featured Actress"), Crimes of the Heart(Rubicon). You can find all her tv/film credits on IMDB if you're interested in that sort of thing;) An eternal music seeker, she also works as a music supervisor/coordinator in television and film. She co-hosts the podcast Sibling Grievery and dedicates this play's exploration of grief to Amy, Gabriel and, especially, always and in all ways, to her brother, Colton.
Jennifer Soo
Actor
is grateful to be returning to the Skylight after previously performing in the play West Adams. She has performed in various theaters all over LA, including Gloria at the Echo Theater Company, for which she won a Stage Raw Award for Best Female Comedy Performance. Other favorite LA theater credits include: Dry Land, Hot Cat and most recently, The Untitled Baby Play. Film/TV: Parks & Rec, LA to Vegas, and Reverie. BFA: NYU, MFA: A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard. Thanks to Jess, Lisa, Gary and Victoria for having me on board, and a special thanks to Todd for being on kid duty.
Ben Messmer
Actor
has performed in productions with multiple theater companies in La including A Noise Within, The Evidence Room, Calamity Theater, Cornerstone, PRT, Bootleg Theater, and Ray Bradbury's Pandemonium Co. He is an associate artist with the Rogue Artists Ensemble and has performed in WoodBoy Dogfish, D is for Dog, and the Gogol Project for them.
Skylight's Artistic Artistic Development and Community Engagement Programs, and our Theatre For All Ticket Initiative are made possible through the generous support of our Individual and Foundation donors, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
DESIGNERS
SCENIC DESIGN: YURI OKAHANA-BENSON
LIGHT DESIGN: BRANDON BARUCH
VIDEO DESIGN: NICHOLAS SANTIAGO
SOUND DESIGN: JOSEPH SLAWINSKI
PROP DESIGN: TBD
COSTUME DESIGN: MYLETTE NORA
PRODUCTION STAFF
STAGE MANAGER: ARIANA MICHEL
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER/PROD. INTERN: SHUWEN CAO
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: TYREE MARSHALL
CASTING DIRECTOR: VICTORIA HOFFMAN
PRODUCTION MANAGER: CEDES SIFUENTES
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: BENJAMIN RAWLS
COMMUNITY IMPACT INTERN: ROSA RIVERA
SET CONSTRUCTION: BENJAMIN ANDERSON, JESSE LAMBRIGHT, JAN MUNROE, WILBUR URBINA
SCENIC DESIGN: YURI OKAHANA-BENSON
SCENIC DESIGN ASSISTANT: NICOLE BERNARDINI
SCENIC BUILDER: DEREK HECKER
SCENIC ARTIST: ORLANDO DE LAPAZ
SCENIC ARTIST ASSISTANT: MARYGOLD MARTINEZ
LIGHT DESIGN: BRANDON BARUCH
VIDEO DESIGN: NICHOLAS SANTIAGO
SOUND DESIGN: JOSEPH SLAWINSKI
PROP DESIGN: TBD
COSTUME DESIGN: MYLETTE NORA
INTIMACY DIRECTOR: CARLY DW BONES
HEAD ELECTRICIAN: TBD
PUBLICIST: JUDITH BORNE
VIDEOGRAPHER: SETH DORCEY
PRODUCTION PHOTOS: JENNY GRAHAM
REVIEWS
"The thought-provoking but also sometimes humorous story delves into intriguing metaphysical questions. Director Hanna helms the story with compassion and care, ably assisted by the talented cast and production team"
- Splash Magazine
"In a pleasingly oblique way [playwright] Dring assesses the choices and perils of loneliness and isolation in our society"
- Arts Meme
“This is one you don't want to miss. Intoxicatingly bold, laugh-out-loud funny, unpredictable, outrageous and nervy"
- Discover Hollywood
"Easily one of the best Los Angeles plays of 2023 with some of the most innovative acting, stage, and lighting design. It accomplishes so much within their intimate black box stage and just goes to show that with the right writing, directing, acting, and most importantly, imagination, some truly great theatre can be accomplished"
- The Nerds of Color
“Cleverly directed” - Larchmont Buzz