My Carmilla at Skinner Studio at Plays and Players

My Carmilla Brings a Folk Horror Reimagining of a Gothic Classic to the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Presented by The Lemonade Stand and directed by Barrymore-Award winner Rayne, the production reimagines Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla with Laura and Carmilla’s roles alternating each performance, exploring identity, folklore, and inherited violence. Tickets are now on sale.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – This fall, My Carmilla brings a haunting new vision of Sheridan Le Fanu's landmark vampire novella to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in partnership with The Lemonade Stand. Set in 1870s New England, this original adaptation transforms the gothic classic into an intimate meditation on queer identity, female rage, grief, and the lingering violence of colonialism.

At the heart of My Carmilla is an unconventional theatrical experiment: the actors portraying Laura and Carmilla alternate roles each performance, blurring the boundaries between victim and monster, lover and beloved, hunter and haunted. The result is a production that invites audiences to question whose stories endure, and who is allowed to tell them.

Created by Philadelphia artists Asha Bagal Kelly and Sabrina Caruso, the production embraces an atmospheric visual language rooted in ritual, memory, and transformation. Rather than presenting vampirism as simple supernatural terror, My Carmilla examines the ways desire, repression, and inherited violence echo across generations.

Produced as part of the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, My Carmilla offers a fresh perspective on one of literature's earliest queer works while remaining deeply relevant to contemporary audiences.

Tickets are now on sale through the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.