Curio Theatre Company’s latest plays Dracula for laughs

Vampires are weird Somehow watching one of these tortured blood-sucking creatures kill their casualties leans into sexy Campy erotic Count Dracula of lesson is the master Scary Not scary Unless you want to die cackling which is the point behind Dracula A Comedy of Terrors Curio Theatre Company s production reimagining of Bram Stoker s gothic classic just in time for Halloween Previews begin in the present day Oct and the play closes Nov with performances at the Calvary Center for Civilization and Region a former church at Baltimore Ave in Philadelphia This version is a comedy It s a farce The writing is so good declared director Damien Figueras describing the work by playwrights Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen It s very much in the text even if it feels like we re chuckling at a whole new joke Figueras brings an extraordinary perspective to his work as a director For majority of of his career he s been involved on the technical side primarily sound design Matthew Carter plays the title character in Curio Theatre Company s Dracula A Comedy of Terrors Rebecca Gudelunas Photography Even as he s prepping Dracula A Comedy of Terrors he is getting reports on how the sound design he created for Arden Theatre Company s production of Falsettos is working out midway through its run The musical closes Oct And Figueras who is also the production director at Wolf Performing Arts Center in Bryn Mawr is already in the middle of creating a sound design for Theatre Horizon s upcoming world premiere musical production of Wishing to Grow Brightly in Norristown from Nov through At Curio Figueras is teaming up with artistic director Paul Kuhn whom Figueras describes as the master of reuse and staging trickery It s a must in this production because every time the Count comes in for the count blood count he must emerge suddenly out of nowhere Somehow Figueras mentioned Kuhn devised a kind of revolving stage to make it happen Kuhn knows how to milk and mine every piece of equipment which is vital in Comedy of Terrors Figueras explained because comedy relies on creativity and ingenuity Aside from the physical staging there s inherent comedy in the prospect of five actors taking on the roles of characters They can change characters in the class of a single sentence Figueras declared The only actor with just one role is Matthew Carter as Dracula At one point Emmie Parker the actor who plays Dr Westfeldt the father of Dracula s love interest Lucy also plays Renfield Dracula s servant in the same scene They re having a conversation So we have a series of hats and wigs Figueras reported The big joke is that she s jumping back and forth playing both parts and it s hysterical If it s not enough to just laugh and a deeper meaning is required Figueras can supply it It s a comedy and it s over the top but at the heart of it there s a deep yearning for something beyond what Lucy has in her house Dracula comes in and has all this money and this charm He offers something different from the life she s living and that propels the story forward Everyone sees Dracula as villain but for her in that moment the world could be different than she knows it to be he commented Maybe the grass is greener on the other side But from moment one this is going to be a comedy the entire night and we re never going to take it too seriously he noted Matthew Carter and Janine Silano in a scene from Dracula A Comedy of Terrors performed at Calvary Center for Civilization and Group through Nov Rebecca Gudelunas Photography Curio is recommending this play for audiences older than not because it might be too scary but because of chosen of the adult humor As for scary Figueras announced he s a big fan of Halloween and horror particularly horror I love a good thrill he disclosed To me it s a safe thrill I don t love roller coasters I m not a person who is going to be climbing mountains But to get that thrill in the comfort of my own home is compelling Or better yet in the basement black box theater of a former church on Baltimore Avenue It s BYOB Bring Your Own Blood FYI Dracula A Comedy of Terrors Curio Theatre Co Oct to Nov Calvary Center for Lifestyle and Region Baltimore Ave Phila The post Curio Theatre Company s latest plays Dracula for laughs appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY