SHOW DATES & TIMES

Watch for new show dates throughout the year!

DRACULA:
Thursday, Oct 30, 2008
Ticket Price:
$5 General Admission
Free to Age 16 and Under

Information/reservations: Call 786-5483


DRACULA
by Bram Stoker,
adapted by Orson Welles
directed by Gary Franklin

Thursday, October 30, 2008

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a classic thriller featuring the Prince of Darkness? We will perform Orson Welle's adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic "Dracula", broadcast in July 1938 as the first show produced by the Mercury Theatre of the Air.

No creature haunting Western society's collective imagination has proven more enduring, more compelling, or more alluring than the vampire. On the radio, Orson Welles' version of Dracula became an instant classic. Welles' radio career is inextricably linked with "The War of the Worlds", the sci-fi story of an alien invasion that caused widespread panic when its broadcast was thought to be an actual news bulletin. However, this was Welles' 29th show in the Mercury Theatre of the Air series. "Dracula" was the first.

Director Gary Franklin has created a vivid, intense production close in style and spirit to both the original Bram Stoker novel and the Welles radio production. The show chronicles the vampire's journey from Transylvania to London where he seeks the human blood that he needs to remain alive, while Dr. Seward and Dr. Van Helsing struggle to destroy him and free the world of his horrific power.


Performing in the mode of the Golden Age of live radio, the players stand in front of microphones on the stage, flanked by sound effects specialists. The cast includes Victor Howard as Seward, Jim Berry as Harker, Jim Buschmann as Dracula, Nikolai Kossatkin as Van Helsing, Shari Damron-Billy as Lucy, Queena DeLany as Mina and Gary Franklin as the Rest of the Cast.

Why come to the theatre when you can stay home and listen on the radio? In this production, we will use the classic techniques of radio theatre which are fun to watch. Watch our foley artist, Daniel L. Lawrence, use strange everyday objects to make the sounds that you hear in the radio show. Watch the director and sound technician work with the actors to put the show together in real time.