The auditions are coming soon!
Do you love farcical comedy, like that of Mel Brooks and Monty Python? Do you enjoy the challenge of playing multiple roles with multiple dialects? Do you like being part of a small, tight cast who works together to make something truly special? Then “Dracula a Comedy of Terrors” might be right up your alley. It is a small ensemble cast of five actors who play all of the character in the Dracula story. Each actor has their main role(s), but also plays myriad small roles as well (well, except the actor who plays Dracula, they only play Dracula). The younger two actors (18-20) will be playing roles that match the gender that they present; e.g. a male presenting actor will play Jonathan Harker and a female presenting actor will play Lucy. The two older actors (40+) will do a Monty Pythonesque gender swap: the older male presenting actor will play Mina & a female version of Dr. Van Helsing, while the older female presenting actor will play Dr. Westfeldt and Renfield.
The audition will be comprised of cold readings from the script as well as some comedic exercises to see what type of timing and energy folks have. Auditions will be both Monday and Tuesday, and everyone is welcome to come to both nights but it is not required. (to skip down to the business stuff, click here)
About Casting and Gender: Please note that the play lovingly sends up gender “norms” in the style of some of our comedic heroes like Charles Ludlam and Monty Python, in that all characters can be played by actors of any gender, ethnicity, age or type.
Our Actors/Roles breakdown will follow the original production’s
- ACTOR ONE – Harker/Cavendish/Worthington/Havemercy/Bosun/Gravedigger
- ACTOR TWO – Dr. Westfeldt/Renfield/Captain/Man-Eating Wolf
- ACTOR THREE – Lucy/Kitty/Driver/Man-Eating Wolf
- ACTOR FOUR – Mina/Van Helsing/Man-Eating Wolf
- ACTOR FIVE – Dracula
CHARACTERS DESCRIPTIONS
- COUNT DRACULA – Commanding European dialect. Hugely sex: magnetically handsome, rock star presence with a killer body, he is a narcissist whose greatest love is himself – and his leather pants. Bored with women falling all over him, he becomes obsessed with Lucy when he hearts of her strength and adventureousness. The less she needs him, the more interested he is. He travels to Whitby to find her and make her his bride for eternity.
- JONATHAN HAREKER – RP British dialect. Prim and proper and obsesive-compubive real estate agent, frightened of his own shadow. Engaged to his childhood crush Lucy Westfeldt and enamored of her fearlessness. Once bitten he loosens up…a lot… and becomes a Tom Jones-style rock star in leather pants.
- LUCY WESTFELDT – RP British dialect. Brilliant, plucky earth scientist daughter of Dr. Westfeldt, she is full of energy and the spirit of adventure and often underestimated because of her beauty. Engaged to Jonathan, but when Dracula moves to Whitby, she is curious about his strange ways and impressed by their similar. interests
- MINA WESTFELDT – RP British dialect. The less attractive, less intelligent Westfeldt daughter, she lives in her sister Lucy’s shadow and is desperate for attention. She is immediately (pathetically) receptive to Dracula’s charms.
- DR. WALLACE WESTFELDT – RP British dialect. Lucy & Mina’s father, a blowhard; self-important misogynist given to proclamations and postering with his pipe. A doctor caring for the. criminally insane, he has recently lost his wife to consumption.
- DR. VAN HELSING – German dialect a la Mel Brooks. Brilliant and sturdy German vampire-hunting doctor from the University of Schmutz. Deadly serious in the way Germans can be, she is accustomed to people not believing she is a real doctor. Strong, shmart, unt bold, she is a woman of action.
- RENFEIELD – Cockney dialect and salivary issues. Insane patient of Dr. Westfeldt, who lives to serveand loves to eat bugs. In a word, the dude is nuts..
- KITTY RUTHERFORD – Cockney dialect. A dotty kleptomaniac patient, she serves as a maid in his house. Think Mrs Lovett but servile and easily distracted.
- LORD CAVENDISH – Scottish dialect. Lucy’s suitor; a Scottish dolt.
- LORD WORTHINGTON – RP British dialect. Lucy’s suitor; posh, British and petulant.
- LORD HAVEMERCY – Texas Accent. Lucy’s arrogant suitor from Memphis, a la Yosemite Sam.
- DRIVER – Eastern European or Russian dialect. The male, Transylvanian driver of the carriage who takes Janathan to Draculas’s castle, who tries to warn thim. Borat meets Boris & Natasha
- CAPTAIN – Sea Captain dialect. The salty captain of a doomed ship caught in a raging storm.
- BOSUN – Irish dialect. A scurvy seaman who goes down with the ship in a storm.
- GRAVEDIGGER – Cockney dialect. A drunk gravedigger with a secret.
Business Side of the Notice
- Dates:
- Auditions 9/7 & 9/8
- First Read Thru 9/10
- Rehearsals 9/14-10/16
- Tech Week 10/18-10/22 (preview 10/22)
- Production Dates 10/23 Fri Eve, 10/24 Sat Eve. 10/25 Sun Matinee, 10/30 Fri Eve, 10/31 Sat Eve, 11/1 Sun Matinee
- Rehearsals are Mon-Thu (times to be decided once cast, but will prolly be 6:30/7-8:30/9)
- Stagehands membership is required if you are cast ($10/year)
- Tech Week attendence is mandatory
- All production dates attendence is mandatory
- We have a relaetively short rehearsal period so we will need all hands as much as possible
- We will need help back stage with scene changes
- We could use help from artsy types with scenic painting
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