In Francisco de Goya’s famous print The sleep of reason produces monsters (1797) we see Goya asleep on his desk surrounded by creatures of the night: owls, cats, and bats. The backside of the engraving reads: “Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with reason, fantasy is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels.” One century later, in 1897, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is published, and it took precisely one hundred more years for the human world to broadcast Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV, in 1997.

The Sleep of Reason proposes an appropriation of reason by the world of the undead. Vampires speak for themselves and look at our world from their perspective, playing with the superstitions and clichés surrounding them. If humans have stopped believing in vampires, do they still believe in the magic of theater? Can the stage maintain its magical potential when all the tricks are on display?

CÉCILE BALLY studied Economics in France and Dance in Berlin. Her work is creating methodologic connections in between these two backgrounds and interrogates with humor the place of magic in performance. In 2015, she received a scholarship by the Goethe-Institut. She worked with Martin Hansen, Clément Layes, Alex Martinis Roe and BlingBlingRecycling among others.

LOUISE TRUEHEART is a dancer, writer, and choreographer. She is an editor for queer feminist platform Coven Berlin and in the working group of International Notice. She received the danceWEB scholarship in 2016 and has worked with or for Hana Erdman, Nikima Jagudajev, Ruairi Donovan, Alice Chauchat and Tino Sehgal.

JULIA PLAWGO studies at HZT Berlin and works with dance and choreography as a survival strategy.

SANDRA BLATTERER, born in Vienna, lives and works in Berlin. She is interested in experimenting with different light qualities, its possible handling and its effect in space. She collaborated with Shannon Cooney, Siegmar Zacharias, Sergiu Matis, Jana Unmüßig, Begüm Ericyas, Hermann Heisig and Laurie Young.