Jobsite Theater to Present DRACULA at the Straz Center Starting This Month

Jobsite Theater, resident theater company at the Straz Center in downtown Tampa and recipient of the 2022 Best of the Bay Award for Best Professional Theater Company, will continue their 24th season with Steven Dietz's adaptation of Bram Stoker's DRACULA. The show runs Oct. 21 - Nov. 23 in the Straz Center's Jaeb Theater. Specially-priced preview performances will be held Oct 19-20.

This sensual, spectacular production features regional favorite Giles Davies as the caped Count. The cast includes Paul J. Potenza (Renfield), Katrina Stevenson (Van Helsing), Noa Friedman (Mina Murray), Kayla Witoshynsky (Lucy Westenra), Newt Rametta (Jonathan Harker), Daniel Lennox, Jr. (Dr. Seward), and the ensemble of Logan Franke, Pauline Lara, and Jared Sellick.

Dietz's adaptation is a faithful one to the source material. He had misgivings about tackling this popular piece because, "I thought the book had been captured quite well in a number of other adaptations, but after re-reading the novel, I became very surprised at the extent to which so many theatre adaptations veered a great distance from the book ... My friends kept asking what my `take' on the story was ... what did Dracula `represent?' I was tempted to join in their esoteric aerobics, [but] I realized that to make Dracula a metaphor was cheating. It was akin to putting a muzzle on the most terrifying aspect of the story. You can hide from a metaphor. A metaphor doesn't wait outside your window under a full moon. A metaphor doesn't turn into a bat and land on your bed. Instead, I took Mr. Stoker at his word: the actual being is the most haunting. The question, then, is not what Dracula represents, but what he is: a brilliant, seductive, fanged beast waiting to suck the blood from your throat. Hide from that."

DRACULA comes hot on the heels of Jobsite's season opener, Steve Martin's , closing this Sun., Oct. 9. Tickets start at $39.50 and increase by performance date based on demand. Previews on Oct. 19-20 start at $24.50.

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