Sites, Sounds Combine to give Dracula 'Bite'

By Marty Rosen, Courier-Journal, 2004

Thick mists, flashes of lightning, spurts of blood, gruesome skeletal remains and moments of pitch black darkness give this year/s Actors Theatre of Louisville production of Fifth Third Bank’s “Dracula” plenty of visual excitement.

But when it comes to creating creepy, spine-tingling moments, it’s Benjamin Marcum’s sound design the gets the flesh crawling.

Much of the action in the Hamilton Deane, John L. Balderston stage adaptation of the Bram Stoker’s Novel takes place in a cozy Edwardian sitting room (designed by Paul Owen, lit by Tony Penna) where Sherlock Holmes would be perfectly at ease applying deductive logic to rational crimes.

But this sitting room, in the sanatorium of Dr. Seward (Mark Sawyer-Daily), is afflicted by the torments that aren’t at all rational.

Nightmares and anemia afflict Seward’s daughter Lucy (Kara Revel), who sports a couple of small puncture wounds on her pale, alabaster throat. Ominous reports of eerie events suggest that something is out of whack in this neck of England.

So Seward and Lucy’s fiancé, Jonathan (Jeff Cribbs), are hopeful that their visitor, Professor Van Helsing (William McNulty who also directs), may be able to come up with a diagnosis and cure.

When he does, and the diagnosis invokes dread superstitious memories, they are less than sanguine. And as suspicion slowly falls on Seward’s new neighbor, Count Dracula (Randolph Curtis Rand), the suspense grows.

That suspense is heightened by the quiet tick of a drawing room clock, the unsettling gurgle of water dripping in an underground crypt, the wail of dogs in the distance, the hysterical laughter of undead children and by raucous sounds of horror.

McNulty has directed this annual October production for a number of years now and strikes a fine balance between horror and humor.

His Van Helsing is at once passionate and analytical; Lucy veers from pale waif to brutally seductive vamp in the twinkling of a fang; Dracula is a courtly Rasputin-like figure given to stiff bows and sudden pivots.

In the end, it is high stakes competition for the soul, and victory is, as always, uncertain.

This Dracula’s Impact comes from tapping a different Vein

By Judith Egerton, Courier-Journal, 2005

The vampire has resurfaced at Actors Theater of Louisville.

And this time, the demon who sleeps in a dirt-filled casket by day and carouses for liquid meals at night is embodied by and actor whose exotic accent comes naturally.


The mysterious Count Dracula of Transylvania in Actors’ seasonal production of “Dracula” is played by Misha Kuznetsov, a native of the western Siberian city of Omsk. Since his arrival in the United States, the Actor has landed noticeable roles.


He played a lobotomized patient in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” on Broadway and at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, and appeared on television’s “Law and Order” and in Spike Lee’s movie “25th Hour”


As the legendary bloodsucker in Actors play, directed by William McNulty and sponsored by Fifth Third Bank, Kuznetsov relies on the intensity of his eyes to hypnotize his victims and frighten the audience. He’s not as debonair, erotic, or humorous as past Dracula’s.


Kuznetsov’s vampire is a lurking, dangerous creature confident in his power. As portrayed by Kuznetsov, Dracula isn’t a commanding vampire – he’s an insinuating one.


The adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balerston takes place in a sanitarium in a small town near London. In his Edwardian parlor, Dr. Seward (Mark Sawyer Daily) consults with Professor Van Helsing (Graham Smith) about the strange anemia, puncture wounds and nightmares suffered by Seward’s daughter, Lucy (Kim Stauffer)


The early scenes set up the tale and establish a base line of vampire hysteria as the men, including Lucy’s fiancé, Jonathan Harker (a stalwart Tyler Pierce), come to believe that Count Dracula has cast his evil eyes on Lucy for his bride.


Notable performances on Friday’s opening-night show include Oliver Wadsworth in the shadowy role as the spider-eating patient, Renfield, and Stauffer whose innocence is lost to Dracula’s lurid embrace.


Smith’s Van Helsing looked frail but determined in the choreographed battle against his 500-year-old foe. Contributing some of the scariest moments were dainty Lily Stark as a child wraith and Michael C.Schantz as Dracula transformed into a growling, sniffing, animalistic demon preying on Lucy.


The story’s appeal isn’t found in its one-and two dimensional characters. It’s the erotic horror that’s alluring. Yes, we want good Van Helsing to defeat the evil and Lucy to escape the counts clutches, but it is how the story is told that makes the play a recurring Halloween treat.


At times, McNulty’s “Dracula” abandons suspense for over-the-top, high pitched shrieking. Still the show with its moody set by Paul Owen remains a fun feast of startling special effects and shiver-inducing sounds.


Dracula appears to scratch open a vein on his chest, from which blood oozes. Later he disappears before one’s eyes—a tough trick to pull off in the round Bingham Theatre.


But most outstanding are the aural thrills created by sound designer Benjamin Marcum. Voices whisper in the dark. The hollow drip of water in a foggy catacomb causes chilly shudder. The cover of a stone crypt makes a frightful; rasping scrape as the lid is slid open, exposing the sated vampire inside.


And finally, the awful, hair–raising sounds of bones cracking and blood spurting as a wooden stake is hammered into the vampire’s heart.

I see London, I see France…Actors’ ‘Underpants’ a grown-up cartoon

Leo News Weekly: October 9, 2007

Something’s been let out of the bag at Actors Theatre. Its latest production, “The Underpants,” written by Carl Sternheim and adapted by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin), is adding to already strong evidence that fun is being allowed to run rampant throughout the venerable institution this season. Zany, risqué and even a little sexy, this romp of a show makes for a most convivial evening at the theater.


The play has a terrifically simple premise: Homemaker Louise Maske’s underpants accidentally fall down in public, and two men are so taken with the sight, they move into a room for rent in Maske’s house. Steve Martin was a natural to adapt the play, which was initially censored and then produced in 1911 in Berlin. He stocks it with double entendres and highlights situations that recall the best moments from his acting portfolio.


Guest director BJ Jones deserves a hearty round of applause for such a thoroughly realized production. In a satirical comedy like this, the characters are intended to be more representative than real. If it’s not played accordingly, the commentary of the playwright gets lost and the production most likely will fall flat. Not so here. Watching the show leaves no doubt that Jones successfully communicated his vision with each person involved — the play drips with the sarcasm and absurdity Sternheim surely intended.


Resident scenic designer Paul Owens has really outdone himself this time. The moment the house facades that overlook Maske’s living room light up, replete with Peeping Tom “eyes” and “mouths” in surprised “O” shapes, the audience knows it is in for wacky ride. With its window and doorframes set at skewed angles, and even a floor rug that resembles a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, the set is delightfully cartoonish. I’m usually impressed with Owens’ sets, but he and director Jones must’ve really clicked. The best set not only echoes but also helps complete the director’s vision. Owens’ set perfectly complements Jones’ directorial vision without overshadowing it.Sound design, by Benjamin Marcum, also contributes to the Bugs Bunny-like atmosphere by having classical music stand in for dialogue during several sequences, and giving inanimate objects, like the settee, sound effects. The German national anthem bit is not only hilarious, but also adds more fuel to Sternheim’s sociopolitical fire.


Certainly, Jones has a talented cast with which to work. Bethany Caputo (Louise Maske) is one of the most endearing actresses in recent memory to appear on an ATL stage, and Triney Sandoval (Theo Maske), as her piggish husband, is the perfect foil. Michael Keyloun (Benjamin Cohen) whines, whimpers and swoons with right-on comic timing (the blue and white hanky is a priceless touch), and Tony Hoty (Klinglehoff) makes a memorable, albeit small, appearance.In fact, Jonathan Hammond (Frank Versati) is the only cast member who doesn’t quite succeed. This is primarily because he almost breaks character every time he gets a laugh from the audience, a la Jimmy Fallon during his days on “Saturday Night Live.”

It's a scary day in the 'Neighborhood 3'
Video-game obsession is uneasy to watch

By Judith Egerton, Courier-Journal, March 22, 2008

Jennifer Haley's apocalyptic play "Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom" is a disturbing fantasia about alienated teens who find refuge for their anger in a violent video game.

But more than that, the thirtysomething playwright condemns parents who avoid responsibility for their children and then berate them for not showing gratitude for all the fabulous things they've been given, including X-box 360s and Hummers.

Whether they are spineless or merely clueless, Haley's adults are as scary as the zombies in the video game of the play's title and the zombie-like teens who kill them with barbecue forks, weed wackers and other house and garden implements.

The location is an upper middle-class suburb, possibly very much like your own. Inside the houses with identical floor, teenagers are obsessed with an online video game that uses a GPS guidance system that can transform your very own street into a zombie-infested world.

Director Kip Fagan and designer Michael B. Raiford's glossy black set create a threatening atmosphere in the small Victor Jory Theatre at Actors Theatre, where the sixth and last full-length work of this year's Humana Festival of New American Plays premiered Thursday night.

Four actors play multiple roles. John Leonard Thompson (whose past work at Actors includes Jane Martin's "Jack and Jill") adeptly plays a man whose wife has left him, a father who talks but doesn't listen to his son and a strange neighbor with odd fantasies of his own.

Kate Hampton, who has Broadway and off-Broadway credits, is exceptional as four mothers: one preoccupied with an alcoholic husband; one who refuses to see the truth about her out-of- control son; another who shows concern for her child and others; and a fourth whose worry about her relationship with her son turns into a hysterical tirade.

Five game-addicted teen boys are portrayed by a clearly talented Robin Lord Taylor, while the tiny, fiery Reyna de Courcy plays four teen girls coping with various degrees of depression and anger.

At times, it's hard to discern which teen goes with which parent, despite the actors' efforts to differentiate them. Perhaps the playwright intended to make the adults and children interchangeable as a way to highlight the neighborhood's homogenous environment, but it seems unnecessarily confusing for the audience.
Haley's play reflects on the difficulty of allowing a child to have his or her privacy without abdicating parental responsibility. It's a question the play doesn't illuminate as it reaches its unsurprising conclusion.

Actors' veteran William McNulty provides the computer-game voice that directs the teens on their Charles Manson-like mission. "Enter stealth mode and proceed to the Final House," he says in a deadpan way that sounds chillingly ominous.

Kudos to sound designer Benjamin Marcum for the buzzing weed-wacker, the bloody shwack of a golf club weapon and the fearful rumblings that punctuate Haley's play.

"Neighborhood 3" is billed as a comedy-horror play. There is brief humor related to the age-old parent-child communication gap, but Haley's play is more horror than comedy.

Like a Ray Bradbury story or a "Twilight Zone" episode, "Neighborhood 3" leaves one feeling uneasy. Haley's fantasy has enough reality to send parents home determined to shut down the computer and talk with their children. Good luck getting them to pause "Call of Duty 4" or "Halo 3" for an imposed parent-child chat.