Today we’d like to introduce you to Ghost Light Studio.
Hello Ghost Light Studio, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Ghost Light Studio was co-founded in a restaurant booth back in 2021 by Eric Massengill and myself, Poem Bokoles.
After years of performing within the same community, we were eventually brought together by two founding principles, first, we both saw the change that needed to happen in the theatre community as it pertains to equality, opportunity, and variety, and second, we both felt called by our creator to act upon it. After setting our intentions, doors began to miraculously open for us in the coming months, making what we do today, just over a year later, possible.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When we first launched the Studio, we truly had nothing. We began with the money in our pockets, which as a newly engaged twenty-one-year-old wasn’t much and a self-written script. From there, we simply began to reach out to those we knew in the community. I will never forget what a humbling experience it was to speak with so many established people around Middle TN, admitting that we truly had nothing but a passion to give at the time. After just six months, we had acquired a 10×10 room through a partnership deal to run our student Improv Club out of, and an adjacent room for our Musical Theatre Dance course.
As we worked to get these classes running, we began to send our script to different restaurants, hoping that one would be open to the idea of a dinner Theatre Production. Soon after, we had a venue for our first show ever, “Twisted Ranch”. We rehearsed in our homes, at the library, in the park, and anywhere else that wouldn’t kick us out.
The show ended up being a success, selling out in less than a week’s time. There were many times when we became discouraged, for instance, the times when we were cramming seven people into a tiny room without ventilation for classes, or at the points when we had put in so much money and gained next to nothing monetarily in return, but through it all, we still felt blessed to have made something real out of nothing. Skip forward to the present day, we have an amazing new space with the Mills-Pate Arts Center, and an even more amazing community through it. This year we launched our first full season of productions and have established so much more than we could have ever asked for in such little time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Eric and I decided to call ourselves a Studio with the intention of not limiting ourselves to just live productions. One of the huge gaps for the Performing arts community in Middle TN is the lack of skill and industry training available. There is so much talent in this city, primarily young talent. These students have the skills and the passion to work in this industry but no range of dependable training to grow with. This is when we decided to create YOUCoach, our independent coaches program.
Through this program, we highlight and promote performing arts coaches of all types, ranging anywhere from audition prep to professional Shakespeare lessons. Our vision was to not only give students and adults alike a wider range of specified skill-building opportunities but to uplift the teachers in the community who want to share these skills. We hope to continue growing our coaches list and sharing a wider variety of skill training in the upcoming year.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I started acting at six years old when my first director, Mrs. Terry Womack, to whom I give all my training credit, put me in the production, “The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever”, after the young actress who was originally cast dropped the show… thank goodness she did, because seventeen years later, the theatre is still my greatest passion in life. After I had volunteered my entire childhood to rehearsals, I decided if I truly wanted to make a career out of this calling, I might need to try out the flip side of the industry, and so after dropping out of college to re-pursue my passion I began to self promote as an acting coach that took house calls. I knew that nobody else was doing anything like this at the time and began to connect with parents in any way that I could. I wound up in contact with the Taber family, a real-estate duo dream team that had a young daughter with a huge personality. They were my first full-time clients and welcomed me into their home with more acceptance than I deserved. I attribute a lot of what I have accomplished today to this family. They trusted me from the very beginning and through this, I began to trust in myself and my abilities.
Eric began his acting journey throughout high school but didn’t begin to truly pursue this calling until he found himself with not only a talented and supportive wife, Amy Massengill but also two talented daughters, Ashleigh and Katie. This family of artists continues to inspire and surprise us to this day, as they will sometimes wind up all working on the same production together. Whether it be on the stage or in the sound booth, the Massengill ménage will always stick together to bring as many productions to life as they can. Eric has found himself proud beyond belief of the talent he’s fostered in not only his family but in himself. He is actively showing the community that it is never too late to pursue your dreams or to listen to God’s calling, even if that means starting a business with me, his seemingly adverse co-founder.
We have seen the wondering eyes of those around us, thinking, “How can they be partners?”. While we openly acknowledge that our age gap is a strange one for those looking to start a business as equals, we also wear this oddity on our sleeve proudly, in hopes that the community will see that with pure intentions, anyone can be a support to anyone else. Age doesn’t stop us from pursuing our calling, nor does it hinder our respect for one another, and we hope it doesn’t stop you either.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ghostlightstudio20.wixsite.com/website?fbclid=IwAR1cT8WSEt_BTEZcYVTCvJWAoHA4rhzaH7Yn0sxIIwkc4xgc2CuNpbxJIcs
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghostlightstudio/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY%3D&fbclid=IwAR2fD7nr4d5AJU__iXZNY45VAzWeiRhj67tgYQT4YhcL1AxpoUUyv3UmorQ
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ghostlightstudio
Image Credits
Anthony Bokoles
