Kansas Wesleyan University’s Theatre Department is proud to announce their fall play. An annual tradition, KWU Theatre puts on a play during the Homecoming weekend. In the past, the Theatre Department performed comedies, dramas, and mixtures of the two genres. Now, the stage will bring to life the story of Dracula. 

A horror icon, the classic tale by Bram Stoker from Victorian London will perform live in the Fitzpatrick Auditorium. Theatre Professor and Director Karen Babcock Brassea chose from a selection of three versions of the play. Brassea settled on Steven Dietz’s adaptation of Dracula, which provides its own benefits and challenges. 

The Director’s Process

“I think that we can have fun with the fact that it’s a horror genre,” commented Brassea. “…that part of the fun of horror is that it scares you.  …there is a tasteful way to do the gore…” 

Her exploration of the concept of the show is driving the creative process. From including dance, historical elements, and the spectacle of vampires, she has found a way to present her own spin on the classic tale. 

“The vixens as they are called, the Brides of Dracula, …it’s like ok, how are we going to do that? But I think things can be done in dance and said through dance…without being explicit,” Brassea said regarding one of the first ideas she had. “It can also be beautiful; it can be lit in a certain way.” 

Getting Technical 

Outside of the staging, costuming, lighting, and sound will play a vital role in her vision for the show. “I think it will be interesting because (the script) keeps talking about all these characters in white. I think lighting on even the costumes and makeup is going to be really interesting. There is a lot of not being able to see people’s faces written in this script, and so I find that really interesting too. Maybe they highlight just red eyes. And Dracula is a shapeshifter in this of course. We never really see him as a bat in this. We hear bats screaming in like soundscape, we hear howling of wolves, we see a silhouette of a wolf. At least that’s how (Steven Dietz) describes it. We may do it a different way.” 

Photo By Jacob Brown, (Left to Right) Dracula Script with Fall 2024 Kodachrome Playbill

Bringing Dracula to Life

Similarly, Brassea’s ideas regarding Dracula himself lean into the freedom of theatrical design. “I’m fascinated by this idea that he’s always watching for his next victim.” She plans to include the audience by making them feel hunted. The potential idea which would bring this to life is the idea of Dracula’s red eyes stalking through the audience. This concept came from her own history on Broadway, “It’s not a new idea. Like in Cats, we went out in the audience with green eyes. When you look at a cat in the dark there’s like that reflection behind the eyes. Well, I imagine that also happens if a character has red eyes. It’s just this idea that you can have eyes throughout the set. Eyes are watching you and the predator is always present.” 

The biggest concern for Brassea is the trademark of the vampire genre, blood. She wants the audience to understand what is happening without flooding the stage with fake blood. Her current thought process relies on projections and the audience’s imagination. “We can play with lights even on the costumes…hopefully having some projections that might drip blood or something to give the audience the idea in the way that they still have to use their imagination. We’ll give them hints.” 

A Senior’s Statement

While Brassea continues to shape her concept for the piece, the students in theatre prepare for this new production. Senior Evan Burns participated in every theatrical production since Radium Girls in his Sophomore year. After his recent participation in KWU and Theatre Salina’s Production of Sweeney Todd, Burns looks forward to playing a role in Dracula.  

“I think it is a fun change of pace. Up until now, I’ve done mostly comedy or drama plays. Doing a show for a classic horror play I feel is definitely going to be very fun and interesting. I am just excited to perform again, and Dracula just seems like a really cool play to end on.” commented Burns.  

Burns knows Brassea’s process after so many collaborations, “Karen has a really strong sense of artistic direction and I’m confident that we will have a great cast and crew. I’m sure that we will be able to perform Dracula very well simply because we have a lot of really good people working on this play.” 

KWU Theatre will move forward with auditions to be announced in the coming days. The show premieres Homecoming weekend with a potential second weekend of shows for the following Halloween weekend.