A Family Holds The Mirror Up To Nature in Ghostlight 

Shakespeare said “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” For a family of humble players—Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and their 16-year-old daughter, Katherine Mallen Kupferer—the various stages and film sets they’ve performed on in Chicago have been a big part of their world. After getting cast in the lead roles in the indie darling Ghostlight, the family saw that world get a lot bigger.

When the writer/director team of Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (Saint Francis) invited Keith Kupferer to participate in a reading of the screenplay, he was powerfully drawn to the material.  “After I’d read it at the table read, I thought, ‘Well, I really wanna play this guy,” Keith says. “I told Kelly and Alex, if they were holding auditions, I’d love to have a crack at it.” Keith was not prepared for the response, as O’Sullivan explained that the role was written specifically for Keith, and that all he had to do was accept the role. “I thought ‘Man, [I] better not blow it,” Keith says. While the intention was never to have the family played by a real-life family, it wasn’t long before Tara and Katherine had snagged major roles. Ghostlight stars Keith Kupferer as a construction worker named Dan, who is weighed down by depression due to the death of his son, Brian. Dan is emotionally shutting out his wife, Sharon, and his daughter Daisy, played by Tara and Katherine, respectively. Dan unexpectedly finds solace when he finds himself pulled into a local community theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet directed by Rita (Dolly de Leon, Triangle of Sadness), a former professional stage actress from New York. As the play’s unfolding drama echoes the family’s own loss, Dan discovers a sense of belonging and purpose within the theater community, and the experience gives the family the power to confront their grief together.

“He came out in the Jack Nicholson role, and I was like, who is that guy? I’m gonna meet that guy.”

“It was helpful that we already had this built-in bond,” Katherine says. The 16-year-old daughter of a couple of actors, Katherine has the highest profile of the three, having appeared in the role of Gretchen Potter in Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret in 2023. Still, sharing the spotlight with her parents made Ghostlight something altogether different. After the film premiered to great acclaim at Sundance Film Festival 2024, it was snatched up for distribution by IFC Films in a matter of days. “Sundance was strange,” Katherine says. “We would be walking around, and people would stop and say ‘‘Oh my God, we just saw you in the movie!’” Many aspects of Daisy fit Katherine like a glove, as the daughter was always performer of the family, appearing in the High School production of Oklahoma!  Brian’s death has caused Daisy to act out at school, becoming rebellious and combative. While Katherine was excited at the chance to play the more dramatic aspects of the character (especially getting to do so much cursing), relating to Daisy’s relationship with Brian was more of a stretch. “I’m an only child, so I don’t have a brother or anything like that,” Katherine says. “So I had to choose someone from my real life to think about  as Brian… my mom helped me, she told me to do that.”

“I told Kelly and Alex, if they were holding auditions, I’d love to have a crack at it.”

Tara Mallen was used to acting being a part of her life with her husband long before Ghostlight, and the two met through the theater. “I saw Keith doing a production of One Floor Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at a community theater that I got dragged to against my will,” Tara says. “He came out in the Jack Nicholson role, and I was like, who is that guy? I’m gonna meet that guy.” The two then acted together in a production of The Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer. The couple moved to Chicago together while in their mid-20s, where they formed their own theater company. “Everything’s better when we’re on a project creatively together,” Tara says. “And to get to loop Katherine into that piece of it has just been wonderful.” Ghostlight also played at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, and won the Golden Space Needle Award at Seattle International Film Festival. The film’s overwhelming success on the festival circuit has generated a lot of buzz, and it’s been a game-changer for the family. Keith and Katherine have both signed with a new manager, and the newfound exposure and notoriety have opened many doors. “We’re learning so much about the independent film world and feeling like we’re now a part of a new community,” Tara says. 

As Ghostlight hits theaters across America on June 14, the Kupferer family is taking this exciting new chapter in their lives one day at a time and enjoying every moment. Keith and Tara strongly believe that Katherine will be the one to get the biggest career boost from the film, and are more than happy with the thought. This group of players has taken the world and the stage by storm, and as their collective stardom begins to rise, they will continue to shine brightest as a family. 

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