(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A pair of Chicago filmmakers will be debuting their latest project nationwide next week.
Writer and co-director Kelly O'Sullivan says her latest film, "Ghostlight," is a love letter to Chicago and its theater community.
“In the movie… it's community theater, which is very different than professional theater here in Chicago,” O'Sullivan said.
“But we get to use all of these amazing Chicago theater actors who are so in tune with that world and brought tons of specificity. It's a love letter to the community, I would say.”
Ghostlight is the story about a Midwestern father who discovers community and purpose in a local theater's production of Romeo and Juliet.
The Northwestern graduate made her filmmaking debut with "Saint Frances," which was featured at South by Southwest.
“Ghostlight" was filmed in Chicago and in the north suburbs, something co-director Alex Thompson said was a no-brainer.
"A place like Waukegan, Highland Park, or Highwood, different from the streets of New York or [Los Angeles], they want to open to filmmakers," he said. "They're excited to say, 'Yeah, shut down our streets; have a car chase; throw a guy on the ground; let's do it.'"
O'Sullivan said the Three Brothers Theater was the "perfect rehearsal space."
“They now have a beautiful theater, but their old rehearsal space was exactly what I wanted," she said.
“It was like this tiny black box. It had seen some wear and tear. It's a storefront, which is like so many Chicago theaters. And then on the same block, we were able to find a dive bar and it just had this midwestern feeling that we were like, ‘this is it.’”
It opens at the Music Box Theater on June 14 and nationwide in theaters on June 21.
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