Dracula
Concept/ designer / technical director
Dracula has always been a bucket list show of mine. I was so excited to work on it with these students. While the final product was fantastic for the students and audiences alike, we suffered a data loss and as such, have no professional photos of this show. What you see below are my own photos and videos taken with my phone.
Concept
The director and I wanted to lean into the classic movie feel of Dracula. We established early on that we would use a scrim to divide the playing space at midstage. The majority of our action would be played downstage of the scrim, with all of Dracula’s Castle occupying Upstage, always present as if it were looming over our story. This way, we could use moments in the script as memory with lighting, allowing glimses of the horror that befalls Jonathan Harker.
Renfield calls out for his Master.
Lucy’s home and the Asylum
The two dominant scenic units of this show were Lucy’s Bedroom and the Asylum units. Each of them could rotate downstage to allow for environments in act II.
Lucy’s Bedroom had a large bay window and seat from which she lets Dracula enter. It would spin downstage in Act II to be the guest bedroom at the Carfax Asylum.
The Asylum held Renfield’s cage which could move around the stage freely. When rotated, the Asylum doubled as Lucy’s Crypt in Act II.
The castle
The castle was as open as it is possible to get on my stage. We removed the back blackout curtain in favor of using the black, concrete block wall. The fireplace was achieved by using humidifiers and LED lights with boxfans hidden above. The arches were flown. Because we were so open, our backstage blues had to be turned off for the castle sequence, as they’d be seen by audiences once the scrim and midstage traveller were flown out.
Video from Tech - Journey to Dracula’s Castle
Dublin Jerome High School- October 2023
Directed by Jeff Horst
Technical Direction and Scenic Design by Nick Hahn