GHOST SONGS to Make World Premiere at Indie Shakes in LA
The chamber musical features Christie Coran and Jennifer Hardy and runs at the Indie Shakes Studio Theater in Atwater Village.
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Independent Shakespeare Co. (Indie Shakes) will bring the new musical Ghost Songs to their Studio Theater in Atwater Village.
ABOUT GHOST SONGS
'What is a play? Is it a kind of spell?'
Curiosity gets the best of young Cat when a trunk stuffed with sinful reading material lands in the Puritan girl's home. Enter Agnes, Cat's housemaid who's returned from the American Colony with a furtive past. Unlocked by Agnes' worldly wisdom, the wide-eyed teen quickly finds herself swooning over the romance, drama, and poetry of Shakespeare's words - forbidden under the thumb of England's new religious rule. But when her beloved, secret scripts are to be destroyed, there's more than ink and paper to be saved. Can the pair disobey Cat's father, their country, and their God to preserve the plays?
Set just a few decades after Shakespeare's time, Ghost Songs by Indie Shakes' David Melville is an intimate, world premiere chamber musical about censorship, courage, and the transformative power of art.
Music and Book by David Melville. Directed by Leonora Pitts. Featuring Christie Coran as Agnes and Jennifer Hardy as Cat. Stage Managed by Kaitlyn Chaidez. Music direction and piano by Dave Beukers. Lighting Design by Bosco Flannagan. Set Design by BihnAn Nguyen. Sound Engineering and Design by Alex Reyes. Costume Design by Yasamin Sarabipour.
Ghost Songs was first brought to life in 2026 at the Indie Shakes iambic lab with Erika Soto as Agnes and Jennifer Hardy as Cat. iambic lab is a crucial part of the Indie Shakes Studio programming, and has launched six new works that have gone on to full productions, or further development at places such as The Geffen Playhouse, Merrimack Repertory Theater, and Boston Court Theatre.
Comments David Meville, 'I have always been fascinated by what happened to the physical remnants of Shakespeare's world. The theatres of Shakespeare's time disappeared during the English Civil War and Interregnum, and the theatres that emerged after the Restoration became the building blocks of our modern stages and, to some extent, our modern understanding of Shakespeare. But so much was lost in that violent transition. We wonder what happened to Shakespeare's manuscripts, his books, the costumes, the props, and all the other physical traces of the theatre of his time. Some were destroyed by fire or the passage of time; much more was lost simply through neglect, ignorance, or deliberate destruction. When I began writing Ghost Songs, I wanted to approach the history through the eyes of two people who were themselves discovering it. Cat is a teenage girl raised in a strict Puritan household. Her housemaid, Agnes, has spent her formative years in the Massachusetts colony. Neither of them knows the whole story of what has happened to the theatre. They discover it as we do. I began working on Ghost Songs during a period of profound political and social upheaval, and as I returned to it, the parallels between our own moment and the Interregnum became increasingly difficult to ignore. As someone who runs a theatre, I am particularly aware of how vulnerable the arts can become when political power begins to dictate what institutions can say, show or preserve. It made me wonder how quickly the things we take for granted can become threatened-and what happens to art when the institutions that house it disappear. Ultimately, I think that is what Ghost Songs is about. Buildings disappear, manuscripts are destroyed, and songs vanish as they are sung. But stories remain with us. They change us, and we carry them forward. The theatre may disappear, but perhaps it survives in the people who have experienced it.'
Director Leonara Pitts adds, 'I'm thrilled and honored to be directing David's gorgeous work. I've long admired what Indie Shakes does, both in the park and in the studio - sparking joy, wonder, and curiosity, and making it accessible to everyone. I leave every Indie Shakes show reminded of who I am at my core: a theater kid. This musical hits everything I love. It's spooky, the themes are timely, the songs are beautiful, and it's set in 17th-century England, a period I never tire of learning about. But at its heart, this is a show about the life- and world-changing power of storytelling and the theater. '
SCHEDULE, LOCATION, AND PRICING
- Playing October 17 - November 22, 2026
- Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 2:00pm
- At the Independent Shakespeare Company Studio Theater
- 3191 Casitas Ave, #130, Los Angeles, CA 90039
- Parking is free and available on site.
- Tickets are on sale now.
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