"I want your fear. For your fear, like a current, rushes through your body. Your fear makes your heart pound, it renders your veins rich and full. Your fear hemorrhages deliciously within you." This adaptation restores the suspense and seduction of Bram Stoker's classic novel to the stage. As Count Dracula begins to exert his will upon the residents of London, they try to piece together the clues of his appearances—in a valiant attempt to save themselves from a hideous fate. Rich with both humor and horror, this play paints a wickedly theatrical picture of Stoker's famous vampire.

Director: Glen Eric Reed
Assistant Director: Cheryl Balas
Producer: Marianne DiNenno
Dramaturge: Amy Dickinson
Lighting Design: Mike Fitzgerald
Sound Design: Jim Balcerek
Music Design: Jim Balcerek, Glen Eric Reed
Set Design: Steve DiNenno
Costume Design: Candace Upton
Master Carpenter: Rob Walsh
Stage Manager: Rob Rainer, Tessa Raum

Director's Notes

Not a lot of people know it, but I’m quite a superstitious person. And theatre brings it out in me. I have many of my own theatre superstitions, and more often than not, I abide by the traditional ones: I won’t be wishing the actors in this show “good luck,” won’t be peering from behind the curtain during a show, and won’t likely be whistling backstage. And you definitely won’t hear me mention Shakespeare’s Scottish Play in the theatre (it makes me nervous just putting it in these notes, even without specifying the forbidden name itself).

But should I slip up, I think this show has a number of things on its side to counteract.

If you weren’t already aware, this building has a bat in residence. I’ve been involved in several shows here, and attended several more. I’ve been hearing about this bat for years, but had never seen it. When I was on stage for Rumors, awaiting an entrance, the bat allegedly swooped down over the stage ... I was blissfully unaware.

At the very first rehearsal of Dracula, I came early, sat down, and something caught my eye overhead. I looked up, and the bat swooped by and flew off to the rafters. The appropriateness boggles the mind.

A few weeks ago, I threw a party at my house, to which I invited the Dracula cast and crew along with other friends. At one point during the night, as a few of us were talking outside, I noticed a bat had attached itself to the brick of the outside wall. And despite it being the middle of the night, this nocturnal animal was just hanging there, listening to the conversation.

And as if bats weren’t enough, this build-ing held something for 18 years that’s bound to bring a production such as this tons of luck: the haunted theatre. From 1980 to 1997, the Barn ran an extremely successful haunted theatre each year. Many people carry many happy memories of this annual event.

Since the last haunted theatre, there have been near-full sheets of plywood, with various frightening images painted on them, sitting in the theatre’s basement. It seems shows in subsequent years have been almost scared to use them. I was thrilled to make use of them throughout our set. I like to think we have a little piece of the haunted theatre in our production, bringing us the final bit of luck we may need. Here’s hoping I’m right, and that we live up to the frightfully good reputation the haunted theatre had for many years. Enjoy the show!