Thora Birch Released from DRACULA; Understudy Bridges to Play Lucy

Thora Birch has been released from the cast of the revival of Bram Stoker's DRACULA. Previews begin Tuesday, December 14 at the Little Shubert Theatre (422 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan. Official opening is set for January 5, 2011. Emily Bridges, Ms. Birch's understudy, steps into the role of Lucy. Ms. Bridges is the co-author of a stage adaptation of Acting: The First Six Lessons, which she wrote and performed with her father, Beau Bridges. A student at the London Dramatic Academy and Moscow Art Theatre School, she has appeared on stage in Gaslight, The Princess and the Frog, and Happy Hour and the movies Voyage of the Unicorn and The Uninvited.

According to a report in the New York Times, Birch was asked to "leave the theater immediately" on Friday, December 10, after an alleged incident in which her manager/father instructed another actor to cease rubbing her back in a scene, as directed.

According to the New York Times report, "The director, Paul Alexander, said the decision had nothing to do with Ms. Birch's acting abilities, which he praised; she was playing the central female character, Lucy Seward, the love interest of Count Dracula. Mr. Alexander said that Ms. Birch was fired because her father, Jack, had threatened another actor during a rehearsal on Thursday night...Mr. Birch said, according to Mr. Alexander: 'Listen, man, I'm trying to make this easier on you - don't touch her.'"

Mr. Birch claims he was simply trying to communicate his daughters discomfort with the back rubbing.  The report claims that Mr. Birch had been an uncomfortable presence in the theater for some time, at one point watching a rehearsal scene from an on-set window.  He claims he was simply checking out a loose platform Thora had to walk on.

Says Birch of the ordeal: "For three weeks I was just doing my thing, and everything I hear was positive, that the work I was doing was wonderful...Maybe it's some kind of misunderstanding. I mean, there had been no tensions, everything was going wonderfully. Then Friday they just asked me to leave the building."

To read the full report in the New York Times, click here.

Ms. Bridges was playing the part of Miss Wells, which will now be taken over by Katharine Luckinbill. The daughter of actors Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill and granddaughter of show business icons Lucille Ball and Dezi Arnaz, she studied at Conservatory at the University of Miami. Her credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sonia Flew, and Melinda Lopez’s Alexandros.

DRACULA marks the New York stage debut of both Bridges and Luckinbill.

The cast also features two-time Tony Award-winner George Hearn (La Cage Aux Folles, Sunset Boulevard), Tony nominee Timothy Jerome (Me and My Girl), Jake Silbermann ("As the World Turns"), John Buffalo Mailer (Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps), and Rob O’Hare (Hell House). Dracula is being played by Michel Altieri, an Italian Tony Award winner who has appeared in Italy in such shows as Rent and Beauty and The Beast. He is making his American stage debut.

DRACULA features scenic design by Dana Kenn (associate designer of the American Phantom of the Opera); lighting design by Tony Award-nominee Brian Nason; and costume design by two-time Tony Award-winner Willa Kim. Paul Alexander directs.

DRACULA is produced by Bram Stoker’s Dracula LLC, Tony Travis, George and Donna Shipley, Leslie Evers, Harold Stream, Ed Bankole, Megan Barnett, Carolyn Bechtel, and Michael Alden.

For more information visit www.telecharge.com or www.draculaonstage.com.