BrightSide Theatre Announces Casting For DRACULA

BrightSide Theatre will open its 13th season in October, with a play especially appropriate for the Halloween season. Naperville's only professional theater company will present Steven Dietz's adaptation of DRACULA - Bram Stoker's novel of the legendary vampire of Transylvania. Veteran director and actor Jay Fontanetta will direct this eternally popular thriller, which will feature an original musical score by Paul Scherer.

DRACULA will take audiences to the eerie landscapes of Transylvania and the shadowy corners of Victorian England on a spine-tingling journey filled with suspense, passion, and terror as Dracula is pursued by a group of courageous souls determined to stop him. DRACULA will be performed in the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall of North Central University from October 18 through November 3 and is rated PG-13 for adult themes and depictions of violence. Press opening is Friday, October 18 at 7:30 pm. Lucy (Julia Hope Budd) and Dracula (Danny Parrott). 

Fontanetta's cast will feature Danny Parrott of Arlington Heights as Count Dracula. Parrott has played such threatening characters as the murderous Sweeney Todd and HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE's Uncle Peck. Mike Boyna of Bloomingdale, whose credits include such leading roles as Atticus Finch in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Salieri in AMADEUS, will be Dracula's nemesis Van Helsing. Veteran Chicago actor and three-time Jeff Award winner for directing Greg Kolack from Elmhurst will be the production's Renfield, a man showing signs of psychosis. The psychologist Seward, who is trying to diagnose Renfield's strange behavior, will be played by Adam Bozcar of Carpentersville. Seward's love interest, Lucy, who falls prey to Dracula, will be Julia Hope Budd, who appeared in BrightSide's JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR earlier this year. Lucy's friend Mina, engaged to Jonathan Harker – the young lawyer who meets Count Dracula in Transylvania - will be played by Caitlin Wolfe. Wolfe's credits include THE DROWSY CHAPERONE for Surging Films and WHEN THERE ARE NINE for PrideArts. Also in the cast are Brady MacNeil of Wheaton (Jonathan Harker), Halle Berghoff of Chicago (Maid), Kyle Drexler of Glen Ellyn (Attendant), Erica Harrington of Westchester (Vixen), Austin Jordan of Aurora (Attendant), Daria Koon of Chicago (Vixen), and Kirstin Palatinus of Wayne (Vixen).

The DRACULA Production Team includes Cheryl Newman (Costume Design), Kurt Ottinger (Lighting and Sound Design), Jenn Martin (Prop Designer), Roberto Puig (Wig Designer), Claire Yearman (Fight/Intimacy Director), Paul Scherer (Original Music), Jeff Sand (Technical Director/Scenic Designer), and Kristin Ripoli (Stage Manager).

Director Fontanetta says, “I'm thrilled to work with BrightSide on this production. Dietz's adaptation is somehow both extremely faithful to the novel but also fantastically theatrical in its presentation. While elements of comedy and drama are present, Bram Stoker intended this to be a horror story. The cast and I are having a lot of fun working to bring the suspense and horror of DRACULA to the Brightside stage."

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