Interview with a Vampire... Meet East Lynne Theater's DRACULA
By: BWW News Desk Aug. 22, 2016
Three cast members in "Dracula" are new to ELTC, and five have worked with the company before, including Samuel Douglas Clark who portrays the Count. We asked him a few questions, and here are the questions, with his responses.
Where did you train?
I earned my acting degree at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Australia. I also studied the Meisner Technique with the great William Esper at the William Esper studio in NYC.
How did you come to work with the East Lynne Theater Company?
I'm an actor from Australia, living in New York now. My first show with ELTC was in 2014 called "The First 50 Years," which was 50 years in a marriage from 1870 to 1920. It was an excellent challenge. I had just the day before bombed a huge audition in New York and felt really bad about myself. Then literally the next I was like, "Stuff it," and I walked in, there was Gayle (artistic director of ELTC), and the rest was history.
Where else have you performed?
I performed all over Australia with multiple national tours at some of the most prestigious venues in the country. In New York, I've performed at the Workshop Theater in Midtown with Frog and Peach, and at Urban Stages with Australian Made Entertainment. I run my own Production Company, Frack Theater in New York City. I love creating, writing and directing my own work. It really excites me to bring new work to life and give a voice to stories that may not be told otherwise.
Tell us a bit about your character, Dracula.
He's a 500-year-old vampire from Transylvania, Romania, who has just left his homeland for the first time because airplanes have been invented. He can now actually get across so many countries in one night without dying from the sunlight. He comes to England and buys this house, and then begins looking for victims. Actually, he's looking for a new wife. First he tries with one girl, and he doesn't succeed. This is the story of him trying to bring another young woman, Lucy, over to the dark side.
What do you think is your character's main motivation and how does that play into the overall scheme of the show?
Dracula is the classic narcissist. He wants what he wants and takes what he wants. That feeds into that whole thing of the hunger, so it's the hunger for blood, the hunger for power, hunger for power over people. He sees what he wants and he goes after it and he takes it. He will destroy anything in his path to get what he wants.
What's your favorite line of dialogue?
There's one that I say when I am talking about a mirror: "I dislike mirrors because they are the playthings of man's vanity." I think that's a nice little dig at humanity.
Who should come out and see Dracula, and why?
I think everyone. This script is really, really good. It's the first play that really turns the vampire from being this scary Nosferatu-type character to a kind of sexy, young, irresistible charming person. It really does a very good job of that. The play really clips along very well, and builds in its intensity. Even if you know everything about vampires, there's something else you can learn. It's just a great production. I love working at East Lynne. They are lovely people - very artistically freeing for me, and for the rest of the cast.
Are there any upcoming projects that you'd like to talk about?
Yes! Frack Theater has a show we developed called "Machine Gun America," a musical about the second amendment and toddlers with guns that is performing as part of the NYC Fringe Festival playing now. You can get tickets through Eventbrite.
"Dracula" runs four nights a week, Wednesdays through Saturdays, at 8:30 p.m. at the historic First Presbyterian Church, 500 Hughes St., Cape May. On Friday, August 26 is an American Sign Language interpreted performance. Tickets are $32; $27 for seniors (age 62+); $17 for full-time students and those in the military or a veteran. Ages 12 and under are free. For more information and to make a reservation, call 609-884-5898 or visit www.eastlynnetheater.org.
Pictured: James Rana, Samuel Douglas Clark, Matthew Lindsay Payne, and Thomas Raniszewski in ELTC's production of "Dracula." Photo by Gayle Stahlhuth.
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