Michael A.
Carson

Dancer · Choreographer · Filmmaker · Playwright

Co-founder of Philadelphia's Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre. An archival biography assembled from press clippings, correspondence, and the artist's own curriculum vitae — September 2026.

01 · Overview

Michael A. Carson is an Italian-American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and playwright. In 1988, he co-founded Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre in Philadelphia with Brigitta Herrmann, a student of the great German modern dance pioneer Mary Wigman, and served as the company’s co-artistic director through 1994. There he choreographed thirteen works for the concert stage, performed in the United States and Europe. From 1995 to 2002 he toured nationally with an evening of solo “movement essays,” Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate. Since 2003 he has focused on writing evening-length works for the theater — including Front Of House and the absurdist play Twenty Grand, a Table, and Two Chairs, now revived as a play festival in Italy — as well as the feature film screenplay 'Messiah Seven,' registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2009 (Registration TXu 1-629-768).

Brigitta Herrmann

From her Addendum

· Tanzfonds.de, “Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück: Le Sacre du Printemps by Mary Wigman” (Documentation 2013)

“Another Mary Wigman influence came via Hedy Tower. Hedy came from Dresden and was a Wigman student in the 1930s. She left Germany in the mid-1930s because she was Jewish. A later colleague of mine, Michael A. Carson, had taken lessons with her for several years in an amateur dance course. He found out about me and my Wigman background through her. He came to my studio, took part in my workshops and we worked for several years together.”

[Ed. note: Herrmann's original text reads “Heddy Tower”; it is corrected here to “Hedy Tower.”]

Hedy Tower

Carson's teacher

Montgomery News obituary, July 16–17, 2012

Hedy Kaufmann Tower (1913–2012), the Jenkintown teacher through whom Carson reached Herrmann and the Wigman lineage, was herself a link in that chain: born in Bayreuth, Germany, she danced and choreographed in Berlin before fleeing to America as a Jewish refugee in 1940. She taught at the New School for Social Research in New York, then opened studios in Oak Lane and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, teaching modern and creative dance — continuing to teach until the age of 99. Tower studied with Mary Wigman's sister, Elisabeth Wiegmann, in Dresden. Carson studied with Tower for five years, from 1982 to 1987.

Michael A. Carson

In his own words

"I first met Hedy Tower in 1982 at a Cheltenham High School cafeteria where she was teaching introductory dance classes for adults at night. I had signed up for a Jazzercise class (which was very popular at the time), and walking into the cafeteria I said to Hedy, 'Is this Jazzercise?' She replied, 'No, it's modern dance and we're about to do an improvisation with a chair — Jazzercise is tomorrow night. Stay.' I stayed and did the improvisation as Hedy beat a drum and cymbals. At the end of the class Hedy said, 'Come back next week, forget Jazzercise.' I came back the following week, eventually transitioning to her studio for training over the next five years. I forgot about Jazzercise. During those years I had the pleasure of accompanying her to her hometown of Bayreuth, Germany. It was Hedy who led me to Brigitta Herrmann — I learned of her and her Wigman background through Hedy, came to her studio, and later we went on to found Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre together."

02 · Archive

Three points in time

Carson mid-leap with a chair during a 1999 shoot at Tom Caravaglia's studio in New York City. Photo: Tom Caravaglia.
Carson at Casa del Diavolo, a village in Umbria, Italy, 2024.
Letter from Giulio Einaudi Editore, February 5, 1992, inviting Carson to meet Giulio Einaudi in Rome. Behind it are two books Einaudi selected from his personal collection and gave to Carson: at left, Severino Cesari's biography Colloquio con Giulio Einaudi, warmly inscribed to Carson by Einaudi; at right, Natalia Ginzburg's classic Lessico famigliare.
03 · Timeline

Work across four decades

  1. Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre

    Co-founded Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre; remained co-artistic director through 1994. First group works, all at Group Motion Studio: Privatleben, Another Man, Strictly Personals, Victorian Fantasy.

    Early publicity photo for Privatleben, one of Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre's first group works (Group Motion Studio, 1988).
    Michael A. Carson in his solo from 'Privatleben,' Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre (1988).

  2. Vlad

    Premieres at the Drake Theater, Philadelphia.

  3. New works

    Null (Group Motion/Spiel Uhr); The Frightened Moon (outdoor, Northern Liberties); Privatleben, second revision.

  4. Choreography Fellowship Award from The Pennsylvania Council of the Arts

  5. Hotel Roma and Befana

    Hotel Roma premieres at the MTI Tabernacle Theater: inspired by Cesare Pavese's 1950 suicide, with Pavese diary fragments read in Italian; Carson performs the solo Befana in a dress (Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 1991). Work also presented at the Homeworks Project, NYC.

  6. German Stages

    Michael A. Carson solo performance Befana presented at the Tanz-und Theaterwerkstatt, Frankfurt, founded by German dancer Fe Reichelt, and the Theaterhochschule Leipzig, Germany.

  7. Italy and Help Me To Dream

    Giulio Einaudi Editore — Pavese's own publisher — invites Carson to meet Giulio Einaudi in Rome (March 13). International Theatre Institute grant for cultural exchange with Italy. Italian-language press (America Oggi, July 5; il popolo italiano, Aug/Sept) covers the Pavese work. Help Me To Dream (“Aiutami a sognare”) airs on WHYY TV-12, Philadelphia, the week of November 30. Carson wrote the script and choreographed the dances, while performing with Sheila Zagar of Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre.

  8. International Theatre Institute (ITI) membership

    Carson's International Theatre Institute membership card, issued through the U.S. Center (ITI U.S.A., 220 West 42nd Street, New York) and valid for 1992, 1993, and 1994. The card names him as 'MICHAEL A. CARSON,' profession 'DANCER,' and is signed by Martha W. Coigney, President of the U.S. Center, alongside the ITI General Secretary. Founded in 1948 by UNESCO, the International Theatre Institute is an international non-governmental organization promoting exchange and cooperation in the performing arts; Martha Coigney directed its U.S. Center from 1966 to 2003.

    ITI membership card — front: issued to Michael A. Carson, profession 'Dancer.'
    ITI membership card — back: signed by Martha W. Coigney, President of the U.S. Center; valid 1992–1994.

  9. Italian stages

    When She Was Good (“Quando lei era buona”), created with the Spazio Danza company of Foggia (Lucia Fiore), commissioned by the International Theatre Institute of New York and the Samuel S. Fels Fund; performed at Cinema Teatro Palladino & Teatro Ariston, Italy. Also Ho deciso di camminare finche' non tramonti il sole (Teatro Ariston).

    When She Was Good, Teatro Ariston, Foggia, Italy, 1993.

  10. Silver Award

    Michael A. Carson's film "Help Me To Dream" wins the Silver Award at the prestigious Dance on Camera Festival in New York City. The film was produced and shot at WHYY TV-12's studios in Philadelphia and directed by filmmaker Glenn Holsten with funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Carson's opening dance in the film was inspired by dancer Harald Kreutzberg's hypnotic solo Totentanz in G.W. Pabst's 1943 film Paracelsus. Kreutzberg referred to the solo as the "Dance of Death."

    Sheila Zagar in "Help Me To Dream".
    Michael A. Carson in "Help Me To Dream".

  11. Final company season

    Zabriski Point (Conwell/Temple University); NASI 4Q285 (Group Motion Studio, PA). Final year as co-artistic director.

  12. Little Buffalo Film Festival

    "Help Me To Dream" screens at the Little Buffalo International Film/Video Festival, Newport, Pennsylvania.

  13. Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate

    National touring of “movement essays” as the evening Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate: short written works for the stage, none exceeding three minutes. Roster member of Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (PennPAT); funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the International Theatre Institute. 2001: Pew Dance Advance two-year project completed. Selected venues include P.S. 122, Links Hall Chicago, the Painted Bride, Theatre Project Baltimore, the Annenberg Center, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

  14. Dancers Responding to AIDS at St. Mark's Church

    From 1997 through 2002, Michael A. Carson volunteered to perform each December in the annual Dancers Responding to AIDS benefit at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery in Manhattan, joining dancers from across New York City in the AIDS fundraiser. Founded in 1991 by former Paul Taylor dancers Denise Roberts Hurlin and Hernando Cortez, Dancers Responding to AIDS is a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

  15. Festival of New Performance II

    At the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia; The Philadelphia Inquirer reviews Integrity Brings With It an Empty Plate on January 20.

  16. Pittsburgh New Performance Series

    Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate at the Pit Theater, Oakland, as listed in In Pittsburgh Newsweekly.

  17. Arlington and Manhattan

    Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate at the Innovators Festival 96, Arlington, Virginia (“hilarious, scathing movement essays”); Humor Unplucked performance series, Vineyard's Dimson Theater, Manhattan, July 11–21.

  18. Humor Unplucked Dance Festival II

    Performance series at the Vineyard's Dimson Theater, Manhattan, July 11–14 and 18–21, as covered in Theater Week.

  19. Performance Art Fellowship Award from The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

  20. Cleveland Performance Art Festival

    Michael A. Carson appears as an Invitational Artist at the Cleveland Performance Art Festival, Cleveland, Ohio, May 7.

  21. Humor Unplucked Dance Festival III

    Performance series at the Linhart Theatre, Musical Theatre Works, 440 Lafayette St., Manhattan, May 14–18, as covered in the NY Daily News ('FUNNY FEET BRINGING ARCH WIT TO STAGE,' May 11, 1997), which named Michael A. Carson among the artists.

  22. Philadelphia Fringe Festival

    “Movement essays” at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Independent Eye Theater, September 17–18.

  23. Avant-Garde-Arama, PS 122

    Integrity Brings with it an Empty Plate in Avant-Garde-Arama (Avant-Ghoul-Arama), Performance Space 122, New York.

  24. Danceteria!

    At Theatre Project, Baltimore (April 3–5); nominated for Outstanding Solo Performance, 1998 Theatre Project Honors.

  25. City in Motion, Kansas City

    Michael A. Carson performs in City in Motion's New Dance Series, Kansas City, Missouri, May 15–16.

  26. New Arts Program consultation residency

    The New Arts Program (Kutztown, Pennsylvania) lists Michael Carson among its 1998 consultation-residency artists.

  27. Thompson Theatre, Raleigh

    Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate at N.C. State, presented by Center Stage and previewed that day in Technician, N.C. State’s student newspaper.

  28. Union College, Schenectady

    Union College’s official news archive announced the engagement as “Proctor’s Too to Open With Carson”: performances of Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate on Friday, November 13, and Saturday, November 14, both at 8:02 p.m. in the Yulman Theater.

  29. Pew Dance Advance grant

    Dance Advance Project Grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts for “Life Lessons: A Series of Six Video Movement Essays,” a two-year project completed in 2001. During the project he collaborated with the Jennifer Muller/The Works dance company in New York City.

    Dance Advance program page featuring Michael Carson, from printed material published during his grant period.

    Program-page transcription

    Dance Advance is a program designed to cultivate artistic excellence among Philadelphia area dancers, choreographers, dance companies and dance presenting organizations. Grant amounts range from $10,000 to $20,000 for choreographers and dance artists and from $20,000 to $160,000 for dance companies or presenters.

    Dance Advance — Bill Bissell, Director — www.danceadvance.org

  30. PieceWorks Festival

    Performance at the Sedgwick Cultural Center, Philadelphia.

  31. Scranton Cultural Center

    Debuts the center's “Coffee House” series at Shopland Hall Theater, as covered by The Weekender.

  32. Penn State Altoona

    Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate, part of Carson's national tour of solo “movement essays.”

    Michael A. Carson in a publicity portrait for Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate, 2002. Photo: Tom Caravaglia.

  33. Front Of House — Barrymore Honoree

    Michael A. Carson's full-length play Front Of House and Arje Shaw's A Catered Affair shared the Ted & Stevie Wolf New Approaches to Collaborations Honoree distinction at the 2003–2004 Barrymore Awards in Philadelphia, announced in November 2004. Both plays were produced by Jane Stojak during the run; she also directed Front Of House, which played March 19–31 at the Triangle Theater as part of The Book & The Cook Festival.

  34. Twenty Grand, a Table, and Two Chairs

    An absurdist play by Carson, directed by Jane Stojak, produced by Random Acts of Theater — two men in black suits counting stacks of cash. Philadelphia Live Arts Festival / Philly Fringe (Triangle Theater, September 7–9) and the Spark Festival (Mum Puppettheatre). “Freaking hilarious.” — City Paper.

  35. 20-Grand in Città di Castello

    20-Grand, a Table, and Two Chairs becomes a 10-minute play festival in Città di Castello, Italy (October 16–17, from 19:00), produced by Carson with FrameWork aps: five writers, one table, two chairs, €20,000 (prop), ten minutes each. Free admission.

    Flyer for the October 16-17, 2026 staging of '20 Grand, a Table and 2 Chairs' in Citta di Castello, Italy — five playwrights (including Michael A. Carson), five pairs of actors, one table, two chairs, 20,000 euros, as part of the 'Prove ed errori' exhibition happening.
04 · Press

Reviews and interviews

"I come to dance from a nontraditional background. I had Mary Wigman-based training. I'd always been taught that traditional beauty was something that you didn't really strive for. The first piece in the Hirshhorn show, which is a deconstruction of a statue, is the thing you went for immediately. Somehow this graceful line, if it was distorted, was much more interesting, much more artistic and much more important. If it was just a little bit too beautiful, it was somehow frivolous. For it to truly be postmodern dance, it had to be atonal -- pulled and pushed around a bit."

"I'm working in a humorous vein, and I find that I can say almost anything as long as I make people laugh. Making them laugh gives me license to talk about something that's very uncomfortable. In terms of beauty, you've got to give a little beauty if you want to give a little ugly and keep people in their seats."

"Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate," a series of movement essays, written and performed by Michael A. Carson, was supposedly of autobiographical content. Of the six essays, most of them rather self-indulgent, "The Critic" was the most effective. In fact, it was quite scathing, thanks to voice-overs in which Carson's voice attempted to explain to a woman what the "expressionist dance" being performed by him was interpreting. The woman's voice vehemently disagrees with everything he says. She finally ends up by asking him, "What are you--the Unabomber or something?"

PUBLISHED IN BACKSTAGE · Dance Diary: Dancers Delight · reviewed run:
"Humor Unplucked!" (Free Range Arts) was presented at the Vineyard's Dimson Theatre, 108 E. 15th St., NYC, July 11–21. The Villager's July 3 preview lists the same program, venue, and dates; July 11, 1996 was a Thursday, matching its Thursday–Saturday schedule.
05 · Key works

Stage, film, and theater

Hotel Roma

1991 · Stage work

Befana

Solo

Privatleben

1988 · Revised 1990

Another Man

1988

Strictly Personals

1988

Victorian Fantasy

1988

Vlad

1989

Null

1990

The Frightened Moon

1990

When She Was Good

1993

Ho deciso di camminare finche' non tramonti il sole

1993

Zabriski Point

1994

NASI 4Q285

1994

Help Me To Dream

1992 · Film

Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate

1995–2002

Danceteria!

1998

Front Of House

2004 · Play

Twenty Grand, a Table, and Two Chairs

2006 play · 2026 festival

06 · Collaborators

Creative company

Brigitta Herrmann

Co-founder & co-director, Ausdruckstanz Dance Theatre.

Circum-Arts Foundation

New York City artist organization led by Richard Biles, its founder and executive director, that served as Michael A. Carson's management agency.

FrameWork aps/The Frame Art Lab

Co-producers of 20-Grand, a Table, and Two Chairs in Città di Castello, Italy, 2026.

Glenn Holsten

Director, Help Me To Dream.

Jane Stojak

Founder of the Triangle Theater and a 2004 Barrymore Award winner for Excellence in Theatre. She produced Michael A. Carson's Front Of House and Arje Shaw's A Catered Affair during the run that received the Ted & Stevie Wolf New Approaches to Collaborations Honoree distinction at the 2003–2004 Barrymore Awards; she also directed Front Of House. Director of Twenty Grand, a Table, and Two Chairs.

Justin M. Carson

Touring Technical Director, Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate.

Lucia Fiori / Spazio Danza

Producer of "When She Was Good" and "Ho deciso di camminare finche' non tramonti il sole".

Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour

Booking agency for Michael A. Carson.

07 · Institutional archive

Temple University Dance Archives

Description attributed to the Temple University dance archives

Artistic Highlights in the Archive

Researchers accessing the Temple University dance archives will find documentation covering Carson's major contributions to contemporary performance art.

  • Ausdruckstanz Dance Theater

    In 1988, Carson co-founded this influential Philadelphia modern dance company alongside renowned choreographer Brigitta Herrmann. Their collaborative multimedia productions and choreography spanning multiple decades are well documented within regional dance logs.

  • Solo and Stage Work

    The collection contains records from his critically acclaimed solo dance/theater performance, Integrity Brings With It An Empty Plate, which toured nationally under the New York City agency CircumArts, led by founder and executive director Richard Biles, as well as his full-length theatrical production, Front Of House.

The Collection Connection

Carson's work is primarily integrated into the Philadelphia Dance Projects Records (Identifier: SCRC 629). The collection documents the region's dance heritage through multimedia holdings.

The Local Dance History Project
Carson is one of ten key individual performance artists, dancers, and choreographers whose foundational collections were gathered to anchor this historical initiative.
Archival Materials
His artist file preserves original digitized photographs, production programs, performance flyers, personal writings, and video recordings of his live choreography and stage appearances.
09 · Dancers

Dancers of the German Ausdruckstanz

Figures of the German Ausdruckstanz tradition.

Hedy Tower
Mary Wigman
Harald Kreutzberg
Dore Hoyer
Brigitta Herrmann
Katharine Sehnert
In the early 1930s, Takaya Eguchi studied with Mary Wigman in Dresden, then brought Ausdruckstanz back to Japan with his wife Misako Miya. Their pupils included Kazuo Ohno — who studied German expressionist dance with them and became a founder of Butoh.
10 · Sources

Archive record

  1. Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 1991 (Nancy Goldner).
  2. Giulio Einaudi Editore, letter of February 5, 1992.
  3. America Oggi, July 5, 1992.
  4. il popolo italiano, August/September 1992.
  5. Spazio Danza, “Ospiti Internazionali” biography.
  6. Dance on Camera News, November/December 1993.
  7. Philadelphia Inquirer, “On Stage” (Toby Zinman), Spark Festival review.
  8. Citypaper.net Fringe listing and review (Lou Perseghin).
  9. Random Acts of Theater flyer, 2006.
  10. Arlington Artsletter, “The Innovators Festival 96.”
  11. Theater Week, “Dance Notes” by Gilbert Lansfeld, July 1996.
  12. “The 1998 Theatre Project Honors Nominations.”
  13. New Arts Program participating artists, 1998 consultation-residency roster (Kutztown, Pennsylvania), listing Michael Carson.
  14. FrameWork aps posters and call for entries, 2026.
  15. Michael A. Carson — curriculum vitae (circa 2004–2005).
  16. Artblog, “Community, DIY and collaboration in the history of Philadelphia experimental dance” (October 2024).
  17. The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 20, 1996 (Douglas J. Keating review of Festival of New Performance II).
  18. In Pittsburgh Newsweekly, April 25–May 1, 1996 (Lissa Brennan on the Pittsburgh New Performance Series).
  19. Theater Week, July 1996 (“Dance Notes” by Gilbert Lunsford; Humor Unplucked).
  20. The Villager, “Guide: Up & Coming Downtown,” July 3, 1996, p. 13 (“Six-pack”; Humor Unplucked).
  21. New York Daily News, “FUNNY FEET BRINGING ARCH WIT TO STAGE,” May 11, 1997 — preview of the 3rd Annual Humor Unplucked at Musical Theatre Works' Linhart Theatre, 440 Lafayette St., New York, May 14–18; names Michael A. Carson among the artists contributing dance performance pieces, alongside Amy L. Drum, Dale Fournier (“Humor Unplucked” founder), Marcus Galante, Gail Gilbert, David Parker, and James Sutton.
  22. Performance Space 122, Avant-Garde-Arama / Avant-Ghoul-Arama program, October 31–November 1, 1997 (curator Salley May).
  23. Spectator (Raleigh), September 23–29, 1998 (Whitney Vaughn interview/preview).
  24. Daily Gazette (Schenectady), November 14, 1998 (Wendy Liberatore review).
  25. PieceWorks Festival flyer, Sedgwick Cultural Center, April 8, 2000.
  26. The Weekender (Scranton), November 30, 2000 (Rex Rutkoski).
  27. Altoona Mirror, arts calendar, September 5, 2002.
  28. Michael A. Pedretti, Movement Theatre International, letter of recommendation, November 30, 1995.
  29. Temple University dance archives, Philadelphia Dance Projects Records (Identifier: SCRC 629), Local Dance History Project.
  30. The New York Times, “DANCE; What Dance Has to Say About Beauty,” July 23, 2000.
  31. Backstage, “Dance Diary: Dancers Delight,” reviewing the July 1996 run of “Humor Unplucked!”
  32. Tanzfonds.de, “Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück: Le Sacre du Printemps by Mary Wigman” (Documentation 2013), including Brigitta Herrmann's “Addendum,” May 31, 2013.
  33. BroadwayWorld, “Winners of Philly's 2003–2004 Barrymore Awards!,” November 17, 2004.
  34. Playbill, “Constant Star Wins Seven Barrymore Awards in Philly; Cy Coleman Permanent Collection Also Honored,” November 16, 2004.
  35. Cleveland Performance Art Festival Detailed Shelflist, Special Collections, Cleveland State University — Series IV (Artist Files) lists “Michael Carson” of Philadelphia in Box 3; Series V (Artist Videos) lists a tape as “Michael A. Carson.” The shelflist notes artist files were kept for all applicants, whether accepted or not.
  36. Montgomery News obituary of Hedy Kaufmann Tower, July 16–17, 2012.