Carmilla: A Dance with Death (Next Life Theatre Company, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, September ‘24)
Directed, Written, and Adapted by Brayden Stallman
Developed in Collaboration with Amelie Parczany and Gretchen D’Amato
Choreographed by Franchesca Parker
Cast
Gianna Carnevalino as Laura
Rasheda Sesay as Carmilla
Alicia Brogan as Father
Dancers: Krystal Rosa, Josh Schwartz
Production Team
Stage Managers: Zoe Gilmore and Emily Muirhead
Executive Producer: Elizabeth Muriel
Lighting Design: Brayden Stallman
Costume Design: Katie Harris
Scenic and Props Design: Gretchen D’Amato
Sound Design: Zoe Gilmore and Gretchen D’Amato
Marketing Coordinator: Niamh Sherlock
Technical Director: Gretchen D’Amato
Dramaturg: Ava Pirie
Every night Laura goes to bed and dreams of a beautiful woman crawling into her bedroom. When Carmilla arrives on her doorstep after a freak accident, Laura and her Father uncover the truth about the intoxicating stranger.
Enter the vampiric nightclub the “Electric Chapel” and dance like the undead as Laura recounts her story of faith, danger, and discovery in a queer love story like you’ve never seen before.
Carmilla: A Dance with Death is a dance-theatre play based on the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu. This production will be mounted for performance during Philadelphia Fringe Festival 2024 and is the first venture of the Next Life Theatre Company.
Carmilla plays with the existing tropes in vampire genre work while highlighting it’s innate tradition of queerness. Through a combination of dance and language this piece seeks to push the boundaries of both the theatrical and concert dance forms.
