Meet the Cast of East Lynne Theater Company's DRACULA

For those who didn't have the opportunity to meet the cast and crew of East Lynne Theater Company's "Dracula" at the after-show party at Pier House Restaurant on July 27, another chance is to be had on Friday, August 5 at an after-show Q&A.

It's a wonderful opportunity for patrons to ask actors and the director such questions as how characters are created, what goes into selecting a season of plays, and where they have studied and previously performed.

Based on Bram Stoker's gothic novel about a ghost who sucks blood from his victims, this adaptation is by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. Deane's play opened in 1924 in London, with Raymond Huntley playing the Count and Deane as Van Helsing. After John L. Balderston revised Deane's script, it opened on Broadway in 1927 and ran for a year, and two more years on tour, breaking all records for any previous tour in this country. Bela Lugosi played the title role on stage and in the 1931 film. Frank Langella followed suit on Broadway in 1977, and starred in the 1979 film.

Samuel Douglas Clark takes on the role of Dacula in ELTC's production, and James Rana portrays Van Helsing, the man the man who wants him dead. Both have performed with ELTC before. In his native Australia, Clark performed in national tours, films, and on television. Also a playwright, Rana is working on a play about World War I, at the request of the NJ Historical Commission, the NJ State Council on the Arts and the NJ Theatre Alliance, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States entering into the Great War. It will have it's world premiere at ELTC next summer.

Three other ELTC favorites are Thomas Raniszewski, who plays Dr. Seward, Evan Smilyk who portrays Renfield, and Robert LeMaire, who takes on the role of Butterworth. Raniszewski and Smilyk, along witH Clark, were in last season's "Huckleberry Finn," adapted by Rana. LeMaire currently is the sound effects person for ELTC's Sherlock Holmes and Nick Carter radio-style shows.

New to ELTC are Rachel Holt, who plays Lucy, Matthew Lindsay Payne, who is Jonathan Harker, and Tara Reuter, who is Wells, the maid.

Rachel's credits include "The Alchemist" at The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. and "An Ideal Husband" at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Payne recently trained at the Moscow Art Theatre's Summer Stanislavsky School and was in "Hamlet" at Cohesion Theater Company in Baltimore. Reuter's credits include "Arsenic and Old Lace" at The Heights Players in Brooklyn and "Love, Sex, and the IRS" at The Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Directing "Dracula" is Gayle Stahlhuth. Since becoming artistic director of ELTC in 1999, she has produced about 90 different plays, not including those that have been produced more than once. She and her husband, Lee O'Connor, who is ELTC's technical director and stage manager, live in West Cape May and Manhattan.

"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, from July 27 through September 3. On Friday, August 26 is an American Sign Language Interpreted performance.

Tickets are $32; $27 for seniors; $17 for students and those in the military or a veteran. Age 12 and under are free. Meanwhile, the musical revue, "Rodgers" Romance" runs through July 23. For more information and to make a reservation, call 609-884-5898 or go online to www.eastlynnetheater.org.

Pictured: Rachel Holt as Lucy and Samuel Douglas Clark as Dracula in ELTC's production of "Dracula." Photo by Gayle Stahlhuth.

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