Current Projects

Manifestations III: Nightmare Hauntings

Geeksdanz returns to scare the pants off our audiences with Manifestations III: Nightmare Hauntings!

Two performances of the (PG-13) show, at 6:30 and 9:00 pm at the Glitter Box Theater, comprise the third year of Geeksdanz’s collaboration between dance and storytelling. Featuring a whole new selection of ghost stories told live by our featured storyteller Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, Manifestations III melds dance, music and story to create an intensely atmospheric performance that will chill your blood and make your skin crawl. Is that a witch at the window, or a fox at the foot of your bed? An awl-fingered shapeshifter, or a zombie in search of his head? The theater fills with sound and movement as the dancers weave through Lisa’s words, urging you not to trust the beings who appear at the height of your nightmares. Tickets $15 at the door.

Check out the Indie Go Go Campaign here!

Poster art by the incomparable Alex Mitchell!

A little more about our featured teller:

LISA HOLLINGSWORTH-SEGEDY is a storyteller from Edgewood, PA. She was entranced as a child by folktales and stories told by her grandparents, and was later lured into the world of storytelling when she attended a local storytelling festival in her hometown. Lisa has honed her craft at John Campbell Folk School and East Tennessee State University’s International Storytelling Institute, as well as more master classes than she can count. She has been a local storyteller at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Storytelling Festival, a teller-in-residence with the Stokes County, NC Arts Council, a featured teller at the Virginia Storytelling Alliance, a New Voice storyteller at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, and a costumed interpreter for the National Park Service’s Blue Ridge Parkway. She currently tells folktales and Native American legends at Depreciation Lands Museum in Allison Park, as well as at Pittsburgh CitiParks events. Lisa is delighted to collaborate with Geeksdanz in performing Manifestations III.

We also asked her the same questions we give to each of our new dancers, and here are her answers:

GD: How did you get into storytelling?
LHS: I was the kid who begged my grandparents to tell me stories. They inadvertently ignited my love for storytelling with folk tales, fairy tales, folk songs, and true stories from their lives. As an adult, I attended a storytelling festival in my hometown, and I was hooked.

GD: What appeals to you the most about stories and storytelling?
LHS: Stories contain those universal experiences that we can all relate to, and they speak to us in different ways. It’s a means of tapping into those shared experiences that draw us closer together and help us embrace our humanity.

GD: What do you do in ‘real life’?
LHS: I work for American Rivers, where I remove obsolete dams to restore rivers for the benefit of people and nature.

GD: Other than storytelling, what do you do for fun?
LHS: I love to read, cook, and create wearable art. I also sing in the East Shore Chorale and play the guitar.

GD: What excites you most about working with Geeksdanz?
LHS: Dance was a major part of my life from age 5 until after college. What could possibly be better than combining dance with storytelling?

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