BrightSide Theatre Announces Cast for DRACULA

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

DRACULA will take audiences to the haunting landscapes of Transylvania and the shadowy corners of Victorian England on a chilling journey filled with suspense, passion and terror as Dracula is hunted by a group of brave souls determined to stop him. DRACULA will play at North Central University’s Meiley-Swallow Hall Theatre from October 18 to November 3 and is rated PG-13 for mature themes and depictions of violence. Press opening is Friday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. Lucy (Julia Hope Budd) and Dracula (Danny Parrott).

Fontanetta’s cast will feature Arlington Heights’ Danny Parrott as Count Dracula. Parrott has played such menacing characters as the murderous Sweeney Todd and HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE’s Uncle Peck. Bloomingdale’s Mike Boyna, whose credits include starring 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 of Elmhurst will be the production’s Renfield, a man exhibiting symptoms of psychosis. Psychologist Seward, who is trying to diagnose Renfield’s strange behavior, will be played by Carpentersville’s Adam Bozcar. 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 Wheaton’s Brady MacNeil (Jonathan Harker), Chicago’s Halle Berghoff (Maid), Glen Ellyn’s Kyle Drexler (Attendant), Westchester’s Erica Harrington (Vixen), Aurora’s Austin Jordan (Attendant), Chicago’s Daria Koon (Vixen) and Wayne’s Kirstin Palatinus (Vixen).

The DRACULA production team includes Cheryl Newman (costume designer), Kurt Ottinger (lighting and sound designer), 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 (set recordist).

Director Fontanetta says, “I am thrilled to be working with BrightSide on this production. Dietz’s adaptation is in some ways extremely faithful to the novel, but also fantastically theatrical in its presentation. While there are elements of comedy and drama, Bram Stoker intended this to be a horror story. The cast and I are having a blast working to bring the suspense and terror of DRACULA to the Brightside stage.”

DRACULA will be presented at the Meiley-Swallow Hall Theatre, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. Tickets are $37.00 for adults and $32.00 for students and seniors. Season tickets and single show tickets are now on sale at www.BrightSidetheatre.com or by calling 630-447-TIXS (8497).

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