Laura van Felsing is a high-achieving, born and bred ladder-climber, and today is her very first day at PlasmaCorp—unfortunately for Laura, it’s going to be a very long day, because PlasmaCorp is a den of competitive, cutthroat, corporate vampires. Literally. And she’s arrived just in time for a shake-up in upper management, a shattering of the pyramid that forces two vamp execs, Amani Thalaba and Les DeVille, to decide who they really are: killers, or somewhere, deep down, still human? Around our trio, big egos fight to be top dog, the rich get richer, and a deep darkness moves beneath the foundations of this decadent corporate lair. As the facades crumble and blood flows, Laura must decide between her vicious ambitions—and her survival.

With 80’s-inspired synth ballads and killer rock (and a little Gregorian chanting for good measure), American Vamp is about capitalism, humanity, and living through it. Or maybe not.

I first developed this concept in October of 2023 and wrote a first-draft script. With script in hand, I pitched this project to  the Baltimore Rock Opera Society member body in summer of 2024 and was selected for mainstage production. In collaboration with Kateri, an accomplished director, I further developed the script, interviewed and hired a composing team (consisting of Dustin Moraczewski, Jeff Mosco, and Reese Vandyke), worked with composers to develop and refine music and lyrics, led three sit-down script readings, interviewed and hired a complete design team, led production meetings and creative developement, and co-directed the production through 4 months of rehearsals. The show opened with a weekend of previews and formally opened May 29th, closing June 20th.

Our run sold out within 4 days of our opening weekend, and was favorably reviewed by BmoreArt.

Poster by Evangeline Gallagher; featured photos by Dave Iden.

Maryland's first, and only, student-run professionally-printed fashion magazine. I began my tenure at Marque in fall of 2020 as a staff writer--I was promoted to a writer & editor in spring 2021, to the Director of Editorial in fall 2021, and to Editor in Chief in fall 2022, during which time I creatively directed, oversaw, and produced two full-length issues, F22's DEVOTEE and SP23's APOCALYPSE. I wrote leading editorial pieces for all issues I was a part of, and composed a Letter from the Editor for the two issues under my direction. Marque taught me a bevy of skills: strict editorial oversight and copyediting (to the level of correcting n-dashes versus m-dashes); managing tight print and production calendars; cross-coordinating with 10+ department heads and a team of 40+ photographers, writers, models, stylists, and layout designers; how to liase with local Baltimore business, from whom I secured donations and advertising partnerships for our print issue; and how to be a creative leader, setting a vision and keeping that vision consistent.

Editorial samples from Marque, as well as all our back issues, can be found at our website.