Dead Muse - Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Dead Muse

Almanac

Dance

Dead Muse is a wry and heartfelt journey into the shadows that haunt us all. Erotic misadventures, colliding family stories, grand embraces, and longing for escape intertwine in this visceral new solo performance written and performed by Almanac co-founder Adam Kerbel, where the audience lands inside the psyche of an artist hounded by an enigmatic Los Angeles. Set against a backdrop of Hollywoods old ghosts, Dead Muse blurs the lines between truth and illusion. Dream visions transform into never-ending stage entrances. Rogue musical numbers bull the performer like runaway trains. In the absence of wings the dance takes cover in the intimacy of the audience and the arts of theatrical trickery. In this landscape, familial legacies reveal themselves as botched audition monologues and so many aborted attempts to make it big or just be loved: bombing at stand-up, flubbing dates, becoming a clown. Through restless choreography, a whisper-quiet libretto, and an immersive soundscape that fills the space with the scratchings of inner thoughts, Dead Muse expresses itself in fits and hesitations with deadly accuracy. Sometimes we need to laugh at failure just to appreciate the attempt at believing in ones self. This show is made for the easily emotional, the strangely hopeful, and the quietly tormented who believe that there is more to this life than the bodies were trapped in. Rave on we shall do. For two performances only, Adam offers his body as a vessel for consumption and deep love in a raw exploration of the artists condition.

Show Credits:
Creator – Almanac Dance Circus Theatre
Writer, Choreographer, and Performer – Adam Kerbel
Direction, Design, Outside Eye – Ben Grinberg
Creative Support – Kathleen Taylor
Costume Consultant – Lena Sands

With over 100 offerings from rebellious circus, delicious dance, fearless theater and activist art to workshops, parties, and more Cannonball pushes the boundaries of live performance at four different venues this Fringe. Come as you are and stay past bedtime. Blaze your own trail at cannonballfestival.org.

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Details

Run Time: 45 mins

Ticket Price: $25

Venue: Icebox Project Space Gallery

Dates: September 8, 2024 - September 15, 2024

Buy Tickets

September 8, 2024 6.30pm

1400 N American St

General Admission: $25

PWYC Options

September 15, 2024 5.00pm

1400 N American St

General Admission: $25

PWYC Options

About the Artist

Adam Kerbel is an improviser drawn to questions that keep him thinking about what dance could be. He leads Performa Choreographic Incubator, a container for brave new performance in Philly, cofounded Almanac, and is a producer at Cannonball. Tied to two immigrant cultures and two creative homes in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Adam makes live art occupied by faults. His work has been presented in clubs, parks, basements, High Voltage, Terra Nova, Links Hall, New York Live ArtsFresh Tracks, Jacobs Pillow and Breaking Walls Festival in Cairo, Egypt. Visit adamkerbel.com. Follow @adam_kerbel

Ben Grinberg is a Philadelphia-based performing artist, director, educator, and festival producer. Working at the intersection of contemporary circus and ensemble dance theater, he co-founded and directs Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, an award-winning, internationally touring physical performance ensemble (2020 Rocky Award, 2020 FringeForward Award, a 2017 Suraya Award, 2017 CircusNow ICE Award, and a 2019 Barrymore Award). He co-founded and Program Manages Cannonball Festival, a hub for new performance in Philadelphia, and teaches Acrobatics at the UArts/Pig Iron MFA program in devised performance. He was a 2024 and 2022 invited choreographer at the Breaking Walls Festival in Cairo, Egypt, a 2024 Festival Academy graduate, a 2022 subcircle resident artist. Grinberg’s work has been presented by Jacob's Pillow, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Queer Zagreb, Touchstone Theatre, FringeArts, NYLA, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co, the Mexico City International Festival of Contemporary Dance, Assembly Festival, and more.

Almanac is an award-winning, Philadelphia-based physical performance company dedicated to original works of genre-defying art. Since its founding, Almanac has premiered 14 full-length shows, touring across the United States and internationally. Visit thelamanac.us. Follow @almanac_us

Accessibility & Content Considerations

Contact the Fringe Festival Box Office for up to date accessibility information.

This event is appropriate for ages 18+

Adult Language

Strobe/Flashing Lights

Audience Interaction

Mature references to thoughts of dying.

Covid-19 Safety policy

Masks are required during this event