A HOLLYWOOD HORROR STORY

Long before Elvira, TV’s first horror host, Vampira, titillated and terrified 1950s America. Now, 20X award-winning Fringe veteran Ingrid Garner resurrects the legend behind this fascinating forgotten icon. Delivered as an episode of “The Vampira Show”, the mercurial life of her creator, Maila Nurmi, unearths in an electrifying multimedia performance!

The Wildest Hollywood Story you’ve NEVER heard!

SYNOPSIS — Since her humble beginnings as the daughter of Finnish temperance evangelists, Maila has always felt like an alien in post-war America. In an era where women are expected to land the supporting role in a nuclear family, she’s determined to become a star in her own right. After years of languishing as a failed actress and housewife, she wins the costume contest at the West Hollywood “Bal Caribe” Halloween masquerade, dressed as the not-yet-named Morticia from “The Addams Family” cartoons in The New Yorker. Little does she know…a young TV producer in the crowd has been desperately searching for a host for his late-night horror films!

A true Cinderella-meets-Frankenstein tale!

Thrilled to land the gig, but refusing to steal Charles Addams’ creation, Maila stitches together her own creature from the threads of her dark idols: the Evil Queen in “Snow White”, Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard” and the pin-up models from BDSM magazines. During Hollywood’s most pivotal year, Vampira satirizes the ideals of midcentury America, while offscreen becoming the Queen of its counterculture. Orbited by the likes of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Liberace, Orson Welles, Elvis Presley and Anthony Perkins, Maila becomes a mothership to Hollywood’s misfits while navigating the triumphs and tragedies of fame.

THE GRANDMOTHER OF PUNK

Though Maila Nurmi’s fame was short lived, Vampira endures, exumed by each new generation of misfits she inspires. Today, as the corset of 1950s conservatism returns to stifle those who defy conformity, Maila’s punk parable screams a thrilling reminder about the power of individuality and rebellion.