David Geasor
I am originally from Brooklyn, New York. I have lived in England for nearly two decades and have dual US/UK citizenship. I have a B.A. in Russian from Columbia University and was an Intelligence Officer in the US Navy. I also have a Master’s degree in Opera and worked as a singer, director and stage manager in several US opera companies, as well as being a theater actor both in drama and musicals in the US and UK.
I have had screenplays on Page Turner's longlist in 2022, 2023 & 2024 and have placed in other screenwriting competitions. I also wrote and produced two critically-acclaimed plays at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge and received a Special Mention at the Carlo Annoni International Playwriting Competition for my play MRS TCHAIKOVSKY.
My first ten pages are attached in PDF format. Synopsis/pitch:
‘What would you do to save the one you love?’
JOANNA (mid 20s), an American teacher in Bucharest, accompanies her Romanian girlfriend ILEANA (early 20s) to a remote Transylvanian village for the funeral of Ileana’s uncle. At first, she is amused by villagers' strange superstitions. But when Ileana starts getting unexplained headaches shortly after the burial, Joanna becomes concerned. She is also disturbed by Ileana's overattentive ex-boyfriend ALEXANDRU (mid 20s) and villagers' hostility toward the young women's relationship.
Matters come to a head when Ileana sleepwalks and is found scratched and bloodied in the woods. Joanna takes her to a medical center but doctors can do nothing for her. DRAGANA (60s), a shaman-like elder in the village, claims the dead uncle is visiting Ileana at night and draining the life from her. She is convinced they have a vampire on their hands. Joanna rejects the notion out of hand, blaming stress from the funeral and spiteful villagers.
As Ileana’s condition worsens, Alexandru digs up the uncle’s body and finds blood on its lips. Dragana insists that action must be taken at once or Ileana will die. The only solution is for a loved one to cut out the dead man’s heart so that it can be burned and the ashes mixed with water for Ileana to drink. Joanna initially refuses, but when Ileana sleepwalks again and turns on them like a wild animal, she concedes.
FATHER MARINESCU (30s), the priest who performed the funeral, finds out about their plan and goes to the authorities. As he races to the graveyard with police, Joanna and Alexandru dig up the coffin, load it onto a horse-cart and bring it to a nearby farm. At the stroke of midnight, Joanna cuts out the dead man’s heart in a barn. She and Alexandru then take it to a crossroads, where Dragana burns it and gives the ashes to Ileana to drink.
In the morning, Ileana wakes fully recovered. Despite the favorable outcome, Joanna admits to Dragana that she cannot stop thinking about what she has done. She is reminded of it whenever she looks at Ileana. Dragana assures her the memory will fade with time and all will be well. But in the end, as she drives with Ileana back to Bucharest, Joanna has her doubts.
While it stays true to authentic Romanian customs about death and the supernatural and highlights the prevailing prejudice against same-sex couples in Romania, the story at its heart is about a girl who finds herself immersed in an alien culture, forced to confront her own preconceptions about the world and perform a horrific act to save the one she loves.
Inspired by a case of alleged vampirism in Romania in 2004.
