PAULMOW
GhostLight Artistic Director & Co-Founder
Prior to founding The GhostLight Theatre, Paul Mow was an accomplished operatic tenor for over a decade, performing at the New York City Opera for five years, as well as several engagements at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center. and with dozens of opera companies and orchestras both domestic and abroad. In addition to his performing on the operatic and concert stages, he won many awards and competitions, most notably The George London Award for the Kirstin Flagstad Prize. His lifelong dedication to the arts has fueled his passion for what he saw as a need for a “more immersive performing experience in Southwest Michigan” which sparked the plans for what is now The GhostLight.
Paul’s directing career includes that of Director of Theatre at both Lake Michigan College and Southwestern Michigan College, as well as Stage Directing at a multitude of regional companies including the past 10 years of summer musicals with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, The Twin City Players, The Beckwith Theatre, South Bend Civic, producing countless celebrated shows including Cabaret, Spring Awakening, Airline Highway, Peter & The Starcatcher, Next to Normal, Caroline: Or Change, The Bridges of Madison County, Parade, The Sound of Music, Hairspray, Sister Act, In The Heights, The Secret Garden, SHREK: The Musical, Amahl & The Night Visitors, & The Last 5 Years.
Paul credits his main pedagogical influences of vocal technique to his voice instructors Martha Sheil, Arthur Levy and Jerold Siena as well as his coach/accompanist of many years Eric Malson, with whom he recorded Brahms’s 15-song cycle Die Schöne Magelone, Op. 33 in New York City’s Town Hall on the Lyrichord Label in 2007 to critical acclaim.
FAVORITE MEMORY
"It was the week of our first show and it was the opening weekend of The Bridges of Madison County. We'd had so many ups and downs and our entire team was working around the clock to prepare for this new vision, an onslaught of audience members (sold out houses!), and an impending visit from the musical's Tony-winning composer, Jason Robert Brown, and not to mention the CircEsteem camp was in full swing, along with six full-time interns performing alongside professionals in our cast from around the country. We had a couple of minor technical hiccups on opening night (Thursday), and literally had to SHUT DOWN our second show (Friday night) at intermission due to a water main break! But this was Saturday night. It just felt like it was going to be different, and it was. We had a full house, all the performers hit their marks splendidly, the show ran without a hitch, all the toilets flushed (and KEPT flushing), and the show was as spectacular as I hoped it would be. The orchestra was top notch, the singers all gave their hearts and souls to their roles, and this was truly the first night I felt like we soared. All of us, an entire team together soaring to great heights, and I just couldn't wait to do it all again."
"For myriad of reasons (most notably the pandemic), we haven't fully gotten back to that since the summer of 2019, but that collective high that an entire cast, crew, orchestra, and theatre company can feel together is a synergy that I simply can't wait to feel again. We'll get back there soon, and I hope that everyone is there on opening night to feel it too. We can't do it without every single one of you, both on and off the GhostLight stage."