Description:

STRAY DOG THEATRE COMPANY announces AUDITIONS for an upcoming production of "DRACULA", by Hamilton Deane and John Balderston, directed by Michael H. Kocher.

Open Auditions will be held at Veteran's Memorial Middle School, located at 12320 Greenwood Ave, Blue Island, IL 604-6, on Tuesday, August 27th 2019, and Wednesday, August 28th, 2019 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

Actors and actresses of every age and experience level are strongly encouraged to audition.

THE STORY:
Lucy Seward, the daughter of psychiatrist Dr. Jack Seward, has fallen gravely ill. She is suffering from a bizarre and unexplainable loss of blood. Seward and Lucy's finance John Harker are desperate for a cure. In his desperation Seward sends for his old friend Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, an eccentric scientist who specializes in obscure diseases. When Van Helsing arrives at Seward's sanatarium he proposes an unusual diagnosis to Lucy's afflictions, one having to do with Seward's mysterious new neighbor the Transylvanian nobleman Count Dracula.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
VAN HELSING (M/ -Lead): Van Helsing is a brilliant scientist who specializes in rare diseases and phenomena. His cunning and intelligence has made his name known even "in the wilds of Transylvania."

LUCY (F /-Lead): Lucy has fallen victim to a mysterious illness. She presents herself as the beautiful dutiful daughter and fiance but she is succumbing to Dracula's power and is in danger of becoming something much more sinister.

DRACULA (M /-Lead): Count Dracula is tall, dark, handsome and mysterious. He is a man of few words but immense presence. Dracula introduces himself as a European continental who has emigrated to England for it's immense "opportunity". He is in actuality the famous vampire of lore who is determined to turn Lucy into his undead bride, a terrible truth only Van Helsing suspects.

HARKER (M /-Supporting) : John Harker is Lucy's dutiful fiance. In many ways he is the prototypical male hero as he is young and handsome and ready to defend Lucy from evil. Beneath that storybook exterior lies an excitable and sometimes arrogant man prone to making rash decisions; tendencies that are a dangerous in a battle against the undead.

RENFIELD (M/-Supporting): Renfield is a patient of Dr. Seward. He has an unhealthy obsession with consuming "life" in the form of eating flies and spiders. Renfield is subject to violent swings in personality. At times he is sympathetic and seeks help and then he can be subject to a malevolent "Master" who commands him to do his evil bidding.

SEWARD (M/-Supporting): Seward is a conservative psychiatrist, an anthesis of Van Helsing, who believes in the proven and the verifiable. The bizarre events at his sanatarium begin to shift his views.

WELLS (F/-Supporting): Miss Wells is Dr. Seward's maid who tries to keep the household together during these bizarre events.

BUTTERWORTH (M/-Supporting): Butterworth is the attendant and guard who watches over the patients and grounds at Seward's sanatarium. He is forced to keep a particularly close on Renfield whose frequent escapes baffle and annoy him.

Time Commitment:
Performances will be tentatively be held the weekend of October 25th and November 1st. All rehearsals and performances will be held at Veteran's Memorial Middle School.

Material To Prepare:
Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. If possible please bring a list of Conflicts, Resume and Headshot for the director. All roles are open.