Ghostlight event invites audiences to see dance, music, acting, aerial work in a spooky, haunted Montvale

Maybe you’re satisfied with Halloween as is. Candy, costumes, pumpkin carving – who could ask for more?

But what if you’re itching for more things that go bump in the night? For more creepy clowns, more alebrijes, or spirit animals a la “Coco,” more spooky 1980s prom queens? For more dance and music and art?

For all that and more, there’s Ghostlight, the one-night-only haunted house-meets-performance-art event, the creation of dancers and choreographers CarliAnn Forthun Bruner and Monica Mota, co-founders of Kindling Productions.

Now in its second year, Ghostlight was born out of a request by Joseph Lyons-Wolf, an adjunct professor of theater and dance at Gonzaga University, to produce something that brought a variety of performance art mediums together in one event.

Lyons-Wolf asked Forthun Bruner, also a member of Gonzaga’s dance adjunct faculty, if she would be interested in organizing such an event. She was, and she reached out to Mota to see if she would be too.

Mota, whose birthday is near Halloween and always had Halloween birthday parties growing up, said yes, seeing the event as a perfect way to bring something different to the area while also giving adult dancers an opportunity to perform.

The first Ghostlight was held at the Glover Mansion and featured 35 artists of a variety of mediums, from music and dance to aerial work and burlesque.

This year, Ghostlight brings more than 25 artists, including Coil Aerial, Quiero Flamenco and Stage Left Theater, to the Montvale Event Center on Friday.

With both Ghostlights, Forthun Bruner and Mota didn’t have a lot of trouble convincing the artists they reached out to to participate. The artists didn’t need much guidance aside from “We’re doing an eerie, spooky event in a haunted house-type space. What would you like to do?”

“I like what we do because, in all of the productions we have, it’s mainly giving people the opportunity to do what they feel and want to do,” Mota said. “That’s the hardest part is the production side of it, and that’s what we are trying to take care of to the best of our ability. We’re still learning but most of the artists we ask have their own visions. We just try to support it. We try really hard not to give them too many parameters.”

Each floor has its own vibe, with themes explored throughout Ghostlight including demented carnivals, Day of the Dead, the Sad Boys Club and ‘80s prom queens, though not the ones you’d like to celebrate.

Forthun Bruther, Mota and choreographer and Gonzaga dance adjunct faculty member Sarah Glesk will each choreograph a piece of their own. Mota will bring contemporary dance to the third floor, while Forthun Bruner choreographs a group of clowns on the second. Glesk will bring her innovative choreography to the first floor.

Mota and Forthun Bruner are excited with the new venue, as its three floors allows space to explore a variety of themes while also keeping the mediums separated.

“We have separate floors now so we can transform each space and each theme can carry through without being interrupted by the sounds of tap shoes,” Forthun Bruner said.

The new venue also alleviated some of the capacity issues they had at the Glover Mansion. People will still be prompted to choose a time to enter Ghostlight when purchasing tickets but this year it’s to ensure the audience is spread out throughout the evening.

There are no time limits for how long a person can spend in one area, but everyone moves through Ghostlight in the same way. Forthun Bruner and Mota estimate it will take visitors about an hour to experience the entire event.

And experiencing the event is really what Ghostlight is all about. Forthun Bruner said a big goal with Ghostlight was creating a form of live performance that didn’t require audiences to stay seated the entire time.

“To be able to walk through and have a cocktail in hand and engage as much or as little as you feel comfortable as an audience member was really important to the vision,” she said.

The event is also built on a desire to collaborate in a way that highlights all the Spokane arts community has to offer.

“We love working with as many people as we can and creating opportunities for them to perform and for the city to get a taste of what we have here,” Forthun Bruner said. “There’s a lot of talent here, and to see it all in one place is unique and exciting.”