Another STAB at Dracula

Posted on October 7, 2024 by lipica

A heavily pregnant Mina Harker prepares for battle in year three of “Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy.” Photo by Audrey Cecil and Actors Theatre of Louisville

If doing The Play That Goes Wrong last month in Portland re-taught me about the power of distraction and laughter (scroll down for some very silly production photos!), this month’s spooky play (opening tonight!) is reminding me of the comfort of familiarity, and it’s giving me the opportunity to channel my grief on stage. Yup, I’m back in Kentucky – my third turn as Mina Harker in Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy with my beloved cast and crew at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Information on how to get tickets – INCLUDING, for the first time, how to LIVESTREAM the show on select nights!! – is below.

It’s been SO NICE to return to a place that feels familiar, with people who have become like family. I don’t feel the same internal pressure to explore Louisville, since I’ve been here before (I even have favorite haunts that have been lovely to return to), and it was wonderful to be able to fall back into easy rapport with my cast and crew, relationships built on jokey banter and mutual trust and respect. In 2022 I wrote about my experience working on the show for the first time (A period piece! In the round! With accents! And fights!), and last year I wrote about about what it was like to reprise a role for the first time. So what’s new for me now?

Well, this year, I have had ZERO nerves and anxiety about whether or not I would be able to make the role feel fresh. In fact, I needed Mina’s familiarity to help me continue to find moments of normality while grieving. The lines surfaced pretty quickly from the recesses of my brain, my body remembered how her body moves (especially in Act 2 when she’s in her third trimester!), and the character relationships (and personal relationships!) we’d all built over 2 years gave us a strong place to start telling this story again. So much felt similar, and that let me use my low energy reserves to focus on something key: Mina spends much of act 2 GRIEVING. She loses so much in this play – her chosen sister, her friends, her husband – and it’s been oddly meaningful to channel my own grief into hers. I found that this year when Mina reaches her breaking point, she needs a place to channel anger, which I’ve never felt her experience before. Mina’s grief has usually felt like depression and exhaustion and sadness, which are all still there. But this time around, it’s very useful to also feel rage, and to be able to direct that rage at the vampires who took so much from her. Like this:

Pictures with Nick Jordan, Photo by Audrey Cecil and Actors Theatre of Louisville

We also have two new castmates and some new crew members who are all wonderful humans doing incredible work. It’s been super fun to have new energy on and backstage. And there’s one final thing fueling us this year: BLOOD. This year we got to incorporate some liquid blood effects into the show! We’ve all been waiting quite impatiently for this moment!

If you’re in or near Louisville, I hope you’ll join us for this wicked horror-comedy that’s “a full-throated battle cry against toxic masculinity” and patriarchy. And if you’re not nearby, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a ticket to one of our special livestream nights – we’ve learned that there will be multiple cameras set up around the theatre and the production will be edited live, just like a sportsball game. It sounds pretty neat! I know it’s not the same as watching theatre in person, but I’m so proud of the work we’re doing and excited to share this story with more of you. Details on how to get tickets for both options is below.

Come see Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy!

Based on the novel by Bram Stoker
Written by: Kate Hamill
Directed by: Jennifer Pennington
Featuring: LaShondra Hood, Justin Jackson, Nick Jordan*, Mark Mozingo*, Brittany “BeeBee” Patillo, Natalya Lynette Rathnam*, Dara Jade Tiller, Naomi Wayne, & me!
Dates: Wednesdays-Sundays October 2-20
Tickets: starting at $25 (plus fees) HERE
Livestream info: October 18-20 (four shows only!) with the League of Live Stream Theater. Get $39 tickets HERE
Learn more about the full cast and creative team HERE
*denotes fellow member of Actors’ Equity Association

Bonus Video Game

It was so much fun to reprise my role as Pharaoh Sister in the dub cast for “EDF: World Brothers 2!” It’s now available on PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows – if you play and find me, please send me a screenshot! It might be my last video game for a while: SAG-AFTRA video game actors are currently on strike, primarily around A.I. Find out more and how you can support HERE!