Welcome to Plasma Corp.
What happens here stays here.
And rots.
Because the world is murder. People just see what they want to see. They don’t care. And BROS enthusiasts who come out to see this show are going to have a field day, a blast, a rockin’ good time— because they will see what they want to see in American Vamp. (Concept and Original Pitch by Hanna F. Al-Kowsi, edited by Kateri, with Music by Dustin Moraczewski, Jeff Mosco, and Reese Vandyke.)
And what most people want (and expect) to see from any BROS show is:
- a big, bad-ass puppet somewhere near the end (√)
- gnarly new, original music (√)
- otherworldly creatures of some variety or other (√)
- humorous chaos that unfolds in spades (√)
And American Vamp absolutely has all of that. (For the record and full transparency, we were invited to ‘previews’ during the weekend of Artscape, a first for the BROS— the previews bit, not the having to contend with Artscape bit— and there were some technical components not wholly up-to-snuff, though those elements had very little to do with some of the shows larger issues.)
The conceptual struggle for this reviewer with American Vamp is its lack of narrative cohesivity. Hanna F. Al-Kowsi’s idea is pretty impressive, though the ‘finalized product’ (again, bearing in mind that this was ‘rough-tech-preview’, though with that said it’s unlikely that any major script rewrites/edits are coming into play nor would any drastic cast changes be happening before their official opening on Friday May 29th 2026) is somewhat of a jumble.
It honestly reads like “Hey! Let’s do this really cool metaphor for how the toxic capitalistically-driven corporate structure of America will drain the life out of you and leave you to rot— literally. And then what better way to do that than with Vampires? And also— for shits and giggles, let’s set it in the 1980s and get some bad-ass synth sounds going on in the band. And by the way, might have watched Repo! The Genetic Opera while I was baking this idea to life.” And that is absolutely the right— vein— for this show and it has such potential. It just feels a little discombobulated and like components (from a libretto standpoint) are missing, and also components flew in (possibly as ideas from other potential future/former BROS shows) and landed and like dried blood, stuck around as part of the aesthetic.
What Al-Kowsi does exceptionally well is capture the toxic essence of the corporate ladder/capitalistic driven world in the notion of Plasma Corp. Even Vampires struggle to become the next CEO and the irony therein is beautiful. Al-Kowsi compartmentalizes and accurately showcases each of the structural components— the dueling VPs, the jerks from advertising, these two chuckleheads from the mailroom (honest to Beelzebub Carmine and Stu are my absolute favorite part of this, next to some of the pun-tastic humor and that one throat-slitting SFX used in the marketing room, but what in the claret-gushing-life-liquid of Nosferatu are they doing in THIS show!?) and she showcases these groupings of ‘corporate tiers’ exquisitely, all the different levels— from the CEO right down to the ‘interns.’ They exist in their own little segregated bunches and when they come together for ‘mass dance’ routines there’s a lot of archaic/rotting staccato movement (shoutout to Milo Docher and Thann Tolley; they get credit for movement but not dance and there doesn’t appear to be a dance choreographer listed so we’re going with “it was them.”)
Where Al-Kowsi needs some assistance is in her generalized composition of script is in the approach to clarity— both with plot progression and with intrapersonal character dynamics/relationships— and her lyrics. There’s definitely a point where this show has diverging plot lines, and that’s okay for shows to do and have, but Al-Kowsi doesn’t weave them tightly enough together (either in a full-on approach to dueling lead plots or a congruous A-plot/side-plot structure.) And even that can be readily forgiven, if you’ve got clear character dynamics. There’s a whole lot going on between Les DeVille and Amani Thalaba, the show’s two leading-Vamps, if you will, that at first could just be perceived as arch-rivals/nemesis dynamic? But then there’s several scenes of ‘late-in-the-game’ expository clutter that draws them simultaneously together and apart and delves into “Marvel-Universe-style ‘origin story’ scene-work” that just feels weirdly out of joint with everything that’s been established up to that point. One of the bigger muddy bogs is that it’s sort of unclear as to who is the protagonist. And that’s not to say that you can’t have multiple POVs happening where Les Deville, Laura van Felsing, and even Amani Thalaba could each be doing their own story-version of what’s happening? But the way Al-Kowsi currently has American Vamp structured, we don’t get that. It sort of starts with Les DeVille and his sad-sob-saga, middles around with Amani Thalaba, and concludes with Laura van Felsing but is caught halfway between being a ‘passing-of-the-torch’ movement and a ‘three-way-split-off’ a la a Quentin Tarantino film. Either approach could totally work for this show but as it sits the way Al-Kowsi has written it, it’s a little of both but not enough of either for a strong, storyline basis.
Another issue, for me and maybe this doesn’t bother other viewers quite so much, is having those post-mortem expository scenes AFTER “The Ancient One.” This really kills the momentum of the show as a whole. Not every BROS show has some epic (literally to the ceiling in stature) puppet that gets revealed at the end, but a lot of them do. It almost arrives like a guaranteed Deus ex Machina to tie together everything that’s been experienced along the way (or at least help audience members be so utterly and thoroughly blown away by its magnitude, craftsmanship, and overall WOW factor that you readily forgive and forget any misstep that has been experienced on the path to the puppet-reveal.) And ‘The Ancient One’ is phenomenal, completely living up to the BROS caliber-standard of ‘big, bad-ass puppet.’ Only it goes away and then there’s like three or four more scenes that just feel super anti-climactic.
There’s also some really deep confusion around the Amani Thalaba character and her relation to/with that big, bad-ass puppet. There’s a whole Chanting-Song-Number (no song titles/credits in the program) wherein the Amani character is…. Attempting to subdue The Ancient One? Controlling The Ancient One because she’s connected to it somehow? Sacrificing herself to appease it? Is the ancient one but currently in more humanoid mortal form? Wholly unclear (especially as we add the Dancing Bats in as whirlwind structures there…and that quintet of chaos is its own beautiful, albeit problematically executed, concern.) Generally speaking, by the time a BROS big, bad-ass puppet enters the game, it’s “show-down” or “Final Boss Battle” time and this felt…deeply not that. And while it doesn’t need to be a show-down or an FBB, it does not some clarity, especially if you’re not going to let The Ancient One be your grand conclusion (or at least only half a brief-brief epilogue moment after it disappears.)
Al-Kowsi’s lyrics are also somewhat muddled. They aren’t as clever, clear, or smooth as a lot of the dialogue penned into the libretto, and at times feel clunky against some of the musical styling that’s being offered. The music— composed by Dustin Moraczewski, Jeff Mosco, and Reese Vandyke— is pretty sick. It nails the 80s vibes while still having some rocker-opera ballad blast options and fits the bill for original compositions that arise from the BROS collective mindset. (And mad props to Vampire Weekday— the band: Jeff Mosco, Joe DePasquale, and Sebastian Ochoa Arguijo on guitar, Dustin Moraczewski and Little Piano Lady on keys, Logan Avery on bass, Zack Kochanski on drums, Justin Sabe on horns/theramin/keytar, Emma Podietz on violin, and Milo Docher on cello.) Sound levels (a known issue with BROS) actually weren’t too terrible for this performance, at least from a balance of band standpoint. (Earplugs weren’t even wholly necessary though as they come into second-tech week and opening, one suspects they’re going to amp up the volume from the band significantly.) The microphones could have been louder for the singers, but tech these days is always a questionable component and the fact that they have them, working as they do, is a bonus.
I want to draw it back to Carmine (Meg Williams) and Stu (Mads Primini.) These are clearly the Abott & Costello chuckleheads of the mailroom…been dead since the 1899 Newsies strike of New York City. They add ripe humor to the production and have fabulous dance moves in that one number at the top of Act II, where they’re featured but they just seem to exist and WHY. If Al-Kowsi intended to make Carmine & Stu your narrative guideposts, which could have been a really hilarious angle to work for this script, they needed to have more audience engagement from the stage, more asides, and way more stage time. They did get to do some really fun crowd-work during the intermission, though to what end as not one lick of it appeared to tie back into the show in any way shape or form…at any rate. If they were just part of the corporate structure, they needed to be dialed way the heck back and pop up really only for that one number in which they’re featured— we’re going to refer to it as “The Mailroom Blitz.” (It actually had all the panache and vibes of someone doing a vampire-themed sendup to the mailroom number from How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; it was almost like it and a splashy number from Newsies, met, had an offspring, and the offspring got bit by Lestat on the way to the stage!) Fingers crossed the Carmine and Stu have a second life (or perhaps a previous life from a BROS show unseen by me?) in a future experiment because they were aces. And mad, mad props to Williams and Primini for working them so thoroughly and completely even though they were wholly tangential to the entire experience; they were hands down some of the best parts of the show. Their work with the mail-cart and generalized yucking up was a real Lally-cooler*.
The Bats (Milo Docher, Thann Tolley, Clove Zitnyar, Lindsey Landolfi, Halsey Payne) were equal points of fascination and confusion. Though they had the best makeup in the production, no question. (Shoutout to WHaM Designer Lysett McConville who gave them that creepy but glamourous edge!) I think the idea was that ‘The Bats’ were the minions to The Ancient One? Ever present and sort of like ‘control magic’ as they were in every scene, often appearing to make gestures that would indicate they were ‘controlling’ things and they hovered just at the periphery of a lot of the scene work; maybe they were more like the spies or the sentinels? The ever-seeing eyes/conscientiousness of The Ancient One? Whichever one was freeze-frame terror-glaring up in the CEO office, holding the traditional cape/wing in front of the mouth hunch pose— that one was my favorite. Milo Docher and Thann Tolley (credited as Movement and Assistant Movement Choreographer respectively) have done a marvelous job of giving the quintet the gyre-gimble-wing-based movements of bats and that reads superbly, even if their existential purpose is more murky like vampiric fog.
There was a lot of spectacle— par for the course with any BROS show— but that’s part of what makes a BROS show so thrilling— be it the Puppetry (in this case Creature Designer Emmett Springer deserves so many accolades; The Ancient One looked on par with both the BROS caliber of expective mammoth puppetry and the overall vampire flavor being bled liberally all over the show’s aesthetic.) Gore Designer Sam Russell (with Director Hanna Al-Kowsi as the ‘Gore Captain) really brings home some of that glorious blood special effect work. (Every time you see a raincoat pop-up…be prepared, though tragically— at least at preview— nothing sprays in the general direction of the audience!) Russel’s most incredible effect is featured during the “Admin Execs Office” scene when the different ones, referred to as “Igor’s Boys” (though they all have given names) are demonstrating new tools. In this case it’s Varney (Lucien Valentine) who uses this fancy scalpel to slit some dude’s throat with precision and the effect is some high-quality cinema efficacy and chicanery. But it’s a blood-bath all around with Russel’s SFX work and it wholly services the show in a most satiating fashion.
Props Designer Eirnin Mahoney and Set Designers Emmett Springer & Owen Miller-Dye have crafted an excellent two-story playing space that really gives you the notion of that cold, clinical corporate culture. Peter Turnbull & Maggie Kim add excellent LED signage— particularly for the clock and overall blinking Plasma Corp sign) to enhance the show’s scenery. The elevator and the ‘overdeck’ for the CEO are personal favorites. While scenic transitions were a little sluggish (preview; we know) where and how they fit together is well-established and it’s trusted that locales within the Plasma Corp office tower will switch swiftly with a few more runs under their belts. Speaking of belts (though the only one I can recall seeing is that sensationally cinching one featured on Amani), Costume Designer Sandy Renovetz effortlessly captures corporate couture while blending it brilliantly with the notions of the undead. Renovetz (with aid from Stitcher Mariah Bethke and WHaM master Lysett McConville) really hone in on the 80’s vibe, particularly where Laura van Felsing are concerned. Cue Joe DePasquale’s magical sound charms and some additional lighting from Chris Allen every time that name gets initially mentioned or anyone (mostly just Laura) drops the ‘JC’ bomb. It’s a hokey, hilarious call-back that is camped the f**k up and totally works for the show on the whole (and wouldn’t be half as humorous without Allen and DePasquale’s illuminating, auditory awesomeness.) Oh and backtracking the praises to Renovetz— putting the stage hands in the ‘Plasma Corp’ jumpsuits is top notch; any production that goes to the trouble to blend their hard-working hands into the overall aesthetic vibe deserves points of continuity and cleverness.
Getting back to the jumble-pit that are the characters— Al-Kowsi has done a great job of making them fully-fleshed out individuals (even if their stories, interconnectivity, backstories, etc. don’t’ always jump, jive, gel, or bleed together) and you can really feel that each specific character that has main-stage-time has plenty of meat on their metaphorical bones. This is particularly true for Laura van Felsing (Lisel Arauz Vallecillo), Amani Thalaba (Neva Keuroglian Sullivan) and Les DeVille (Nikolai Skwarczek.) Of the three Skwarczek is the least composed in the arena of singing (struggling somewhat consistently with pitch and tone) but damn if there isn’t attitude, intensity, and perfection on comic timing coming from the Les DeVille character. Vallecillo and Sullivan both have strong, well-balanced voices with Sullivan leaning more into that classic rock-opera beltress roll of yesteryore (though the songs that the Amani character has lend themselves more to that nature.) Vallecillo’s Laura van Felsing leans more into the ‘swan-11-o’clock style numbers’ which have a more musical theatre ballad feel to them and she delivers them sublimely, though her mic could have used a major boost as she was quite soft-sung for most of her solo features. Watching her get ‘high’ on VampBlood is hilarious; the rigorous change in both physicality and frenetic energy tickles the funny bone immensely.
Both Ivor the Inevitable (Josh Brown) and Baron Blagojevich (Tevis Tsai) play up their caricature-driven roles to perfection. When Tsai first appears on the balcony as CEO it’s an immediate homage to ‘The Count’ from Trimper’s Haunted House of the Ocean City, MD Boardwalk attraction fame. (And literally every and any other vampire-stereotype that has fueled the industry since Stoker.) His accent, mannerisms and keen comedic timing and delivery are stellar. “Flanked” by these soulless puppet-vampire-goth types Dean-o (Gabe Shatkin) and Donna (Jamie Krantz), the Baron fills out the role of ‘CEO’ quite perfectly. Shatkin and Krantz and their wholly still, dead-soul eyes are an added bonus to this part of the story. And the humor that arises from them doing everything in tandem is extra cheeky. Tsai gets a big number that’s not unlike “It’s Hard Being the Bard” from Something Rotten though with way more 80’s glide-slide style to it and he sings pretty enthusiastically.
Brown, as the d-bag/d-canoe jerkwad who runs advertising fulfills that role to perfection. Anyone who’s ever worked in an office and has met a self-important, self-aggrandizing, self-satisfying jackass who throws nothing but shade and pats himself on the back by having others move his hand to do so will see exactly that in Brown’s portrayal. It’s the epitome of toxic office-corporate culture. And his underlings? Lil adverts? Whatever we’re calling them— Lioncourt (Matthew Lindsay Payne, who’s also responsible for the Amazeballs fight choreography peppered throughout the show), Oriok (Bex F. Vega) and Varney (Lucien Valentine) fall in line with that seedy, revoltingly grody attitude that just oozes off of them like the film on teeth when you’ve gone too long without brushing.
At this point in the blood bath, it feels like an AB-negative? Work in progress? Concepts are there, execution is sort of there, performance components are definitely there. But it’s an astonishing and overall impressive exertion considering its all done up from scratch and by a labor-of-love-loving bunch of volunteers. Go in expecting the BROS Check-List: big bad-ass puppet, gnarly new music, otherworldly creatures, humor & chaos— and you’ll be set. You’ll have a great time. Plus they sell alcohol— themed drinks and all— in the lobby both before the show and at the intermission!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission
American Vamp plays through June 20th 2026 with Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS) at Zion Lutheran Church— 400 E. Lexington Street in Baltimore, MD. Tickets can be purchased in advance online. (Live-Stream options are also available on June 12th & 13th 2026)
*Lally-cooler, a term first introduced to me by Green Globe Theatre’s production of Devil In Me (written and directed by Lianna von Haubritz) based on the real-life story of H.H. Holmes…and loosely sparked to mind my personal favorite BROS production: Murder Castle {2013} a glorious fictional musical re-telling of the same man.
