TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE

Manananggal

1994
Melody Sumner Carnahan, Laetitia Sonami, Marie Goyette
Carnahan's story is about two powerful women who come under each other's influence, thereby releasing unconscious contents. Each begins to see the other as evil, bringing to life a type of vampire —a woman who can cut her body in half—the once-metaphorical beast known in Philippine folklore as "the manananggal." During the unraveling of their history, the two women again draw close, the leitmotif of each is firmly underscored as she projects onto the other woman emotions and elemental forces she has repressed in herself. Originally commissioned for stage by STEIM in Amsterdam. Commissioned by New American Radio.