press kit
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage
A new play by Jeanmarie Simpson
Starring Michael Rawley
An Arizona Theatre Matters Production
Theatre Without Barriers.
About the Play
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage follows Alban Matthews, a lifelong actor haunted by the echoes of his life in the theatre. Alone with a single ghostlight, he summons the voices of his past — mentors, rivals, lovers, and characters who refuse to let him go. Each memory is a reflection of the artist he has been and the man he has become.
Written for and performed by Michael Rawley, this fifty-minute solo play explores aging, artistry, and devotion through the lens of a life lived in performance.
Performance Approach
This staging is stripped to the bone — the essential elements of theatre: voice, light, and breath.
Michael Rawley embodies Alban Matthews with the depth and truth of a lifetime in performance. Joseph Brohm provides live, integrated audio description, and Artistic Sign Language is projected on screen, fully woven into the visual design.
In keeping with Arizona Theatre Matters’ commitment to radical accessibility, this performance invites every audience member — regardless of sensory or cognitive access needs — into the same living moment of story and presence.
Creative Team
Vocal Performer: Michael Rawley
Michael Rawley, actor and director, is the Associate Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM). Over nearly six decades in theatre, he has performed, directed, and produced across Canada and the United States. His credits include two years as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King (Toronto and U.S. Tour). As Managing Artistic Director of the LaSalle Theatre and SaveTheLaSalle in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, he has created and directed ten seasons of Shakespeare in the Park and numerous adaptations.
For ATM, he has portrayed Prospero (The Tempest), Polonius (When Churchyards Yawn), and Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). In 2025, he directed The Ferryman’s Toll, and in 2026, he performs as Alban in Ghosts of the Gilded Stage, Lear in ATM’s solo King Lear, and The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. Also in 2026, he will direct Even Unto Death and The Pirates of Penzance.
Artistic Sign Language Performer: Boluwatife Makanjuola
Boluwatife Makanjuola is a Deaf performing artist whose work unites movement, expression, and storytelling through Artistic Sign Language. She has appeared in several Arizona Theatre Matters productions, including When Churchyards Yawn, Feliz Navidad, and Unyielding Voices. Boluwatife’s performances illuminate sign as a creative, narrative language — alive with rhythm, emotion, and visual power. For Ghosts of the Gilded Stage, her onscreen performance expands the world of the play into a fully visual experience, embodying theatre’s capacity to speak through every sense.
Audio Describer / Stage Manager: Joseph Brohm
Joseph Brohm is a Toronto-based actor and artistic creator originally from Northern Ontario. After studying briefly in the University of Windsor’s Drama (BFA) program, he became an artistic associate at The LaSalle Theatre in Kirkland Lake. There he helped to produce junior productions of several major shows, including Annie, The Music Man, and Willy Wonka.
His original adaptation of The Nutcracker showcased his abilities as both a writer and performer. Also in 2026 for Arizona Theatre Matters, Joseph will play Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance and narrate both Even Unto Death and LEAR – A Solo Adaptation.
Playwright / Director: Jeanmarie Simpson
Jeanmarie Simpson (Playwright) is a writer, performer, and director whose work has reached audiences across the globe. In 2025, Upstage Left Press published When Churchyards Yawn and Other Plays, a collection of four works that probe conscience, resistance, and power through a feminist lens. Her recent plays — Bambino Mio – Bright Little Flame, Pineapple and Other Options, The Jewish Question, and When Churchyards Yawn — reflect her ongoing commitment to illuminating stories of courage and conscience, particularly those centered on women’s experiences.
As Founding Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre Matters, Simpson has led inclusive, award-winning productions supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Arizona Humanities, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities, The Living History Foundation and many other regional and national organizations.
She wrote Ghosts of the Gilded Stage especially for Michael Rawley, her long-time friend and collaborator. Their creative partnership began in 1973 when they first performed together at Senator O’Connor High School in Toronto. Today, Simpson describes the opportunity to craft such intimate material for Michael as “To build new work with Michael after all this time,” Simpson says, “feels like returning home to the heartbeat of my own artistic life. He never ceases to surprise and inspire me.”
She lives in Glendale, Arizona, where she continues to create theatre that challenges assumptions, restores erased histories, and invites deeper human connection.
Credits
Produced by: Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM)
Running Time: Approximately 50 minutes
Genre: Solo Drama / Meta-theatrical Performance
Touring Readiness: Festival and Black Box adaptable
🎭 PRESS RELEASE
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage – illustration by Kady Barnes, Arizona Theatre Matters
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 11, 2025
Contact: pr@arizonatheatrematters.org
From Glendale to the World: Arizona Theatre Matters at Brighton Fringe 2026
A new solo play by Jeanmarie Simpson — starring Michael Rawley — redefines what accessibility can mean onstage.
Theatre Without Barriers.
Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM) brings radical accessibility and poetic precision to the UK with Ghosts of the Gilded Stage, premiering May 2026 at the Brighton Fringe Festival.
Glendale, AZ / Brighton, UK — Ghosts of the Gilded Stage, a fifty-minute solo play written and directed by Jeanmarie Simpson, makes its live UK debut at the Brighton Fringe Festival.
Presented by Arizona Theatre Matters, the production is built from accessibility — its form, rhythm, and language shaped by the collaboration of three artists working across sound, description, and sign.
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage is living proof that universal accessibility works. Each live performance becomes an artistic experiment, revealing how inclusion can heighten emotion, deepen audience engagement, and enrich storytelling for everyone.
Arizona Theatre Matters invites audiences and presenters to experience accessibility not as accommodation, but as art. The company’s unique model pairs Deaf, Blind, and sighted artists as equal creative collaborators — showing that accessible design can produce some of the most riveting, imaginative theatre on stage today.
To ensure access for audiences everywhere, a simultaneous YouTube stream will run throughout the Brighton engagement, connecting global viewers who can’t attend in person.
The play stars Michael Rawley, ATM’s Associate Artistic Director, as Alban Matthews — an actor returning to an empty theatre to sift through the fragments of a life spent in costume and light. As he remembers, two other artists inhabit the space with him: Joseph Brohm, performing live audio description of what would traditionally appear onstage, and Boluwatife Makanjuola, whose Artistic Sign Language performance — projected onscreen — embodies both Rawley’s and Brohm’s words in a single, expressive visual form. Together, the three performers create a theatre of memory: voice, description, and movement weaving a unified work that expands what theatre can hold.
“To build new work with Michael after all this time feels like returning home to the heartbeat of my own artistic life,” says Simpson. “He never ceases to surprise and inspire me.”
“The staging is built with accessibility,” says Simpson. “Michael, Joseph, and Boluwatife each carry a language of the play — spoken, described, and signed — and the piece exists where those languages amalgamate.”
Michael Rawley describes the process as both humbling and liberating:
“Performing this piece is like standing inside memory itself. The language, the sound, and the movement hold equal weight — they breathe together. It’s unlike any theatrical process I’ve known.”
Joseph Brohm, whose live audio description gives voice to the physical world of the play, adds:
“I voice the physical life of the play for the ear — the sound of movement, the weight of space, the breath between moments. That’s my role.”
Boluwatife Makanjuola, whose onscreen performance carries the play’s visual and emotional landscape through Artistic Sign Language, says:
“Artistic Sign Language is a living art. On that screen, my body speaks the story. Every movement has weight, every silence breathes. It’s theatre in my first language.”
💫 From Glendale to Brighton — and Beyond
Born in Arizona and built from accessibility, Arizona Theatre Matters now reaches over 116,000 international subscribers through its digital theatre productions.
This Brighton debut marks ATM’s first UK appearance — and the beginning of an exciting new international chapter. Negotiations are currently underway for performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and other venues across the UK, Europe, and North America, extending ATM’s mission to make accessibility an art form without borders.
🎟 Event Details
| Venue | Dates | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Grania Dean Studio (Lantern Theatre @ ACT), Brighton, UK | May 27–31, 2026 | 7 p.m. |
The Artists
Michael Rawley – Vocal Performer
Boluwatife Makanjuola – Artistic Sign Language Performer
Joseph Brohm – Audio Describer / Stage Manager
Jeanmarie Simpson – Playwright & Director
Each artist brings a unique voice and language to the production — together creating a theatre of memory, sound, and movement.
❤️ Support the Journey
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage marks the beginning of Arizona Theatre Matters’ 2026 international season.
To bring this radically accessible production from Glendale to Brighton — and beyond to future UK and European engagements — ATM has launched a fundraiser to support travel, artist fees, and equipment.
Every contribution helps ensure that Deaf, Blind, and sighted artists and audiences can create and perform together on equal ground.
Press & Media Resources
For press materials, images, or interviews:
📧 pr@arizonatheatrematters.org
General inquiries:
📧 theoffice@arizonatheatrematters.org
🌐 www.arizonatheatrematters.org
One story. Three languages. A stage built from memory itself.
Arizona Theatre Matters 
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