Dracula, 1992 (Updated 10/19/17)

Program Cover


Dracula was one of the biggest productions I have worked on while at Brockport.
It had a big set, many special effects and challenging lighting requirements.
The set was built with all hard covered or Hollywood flats.
The walls were mostly all custom size and built just for this show.
Incorporated into the set was a ledge for Renfield to climb up on, a section of stone wall that could be pushed back to reveal a passageway and a cave.

The cave was fun and not used until the end of the play.
As the heroes chase offstage after Dracula the main curtain came in and they find a trap door which they open and fog flows up.
The cave was built on the orchestra lift that had a steel framed platform covering it.
As the heroes are running out to the trap door the audience is surprised to see that the lift was rising up to reveal the cave.
The walls and posts holding up the platform were covered with spray foam to give the look of stalactites and stalagmites.
The designer and student helper got sick from the fumes given off by this early version of spray foam.
The result was great.

We had many special effects which included flaying bats.

A team came in from the former Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo to rig the flying bats.

They work mostly well but I always thought that they looked a bit more like black Jell-O then bats.

Blood.

It is hard to do Dracula without blood.

Two of my advanced students worked on multiple recipes for blood; including one that looked good under the lights, was washable out of costumes and even an edible version.

The Special Effects Blood Team, Rich and Ray, even made a large stake that shot out blood as it was driven into Dracula killing him at the end.

To my disappointment the costume designer insisted on having Dracula in a purple shirt instead of a white shirt which would have shown off the blood.

I wish I had just offered to buy six shirts, one for each performance, because the big killing moment just was not seen as well as it should have.

The play had many other special features and firsts for us like a score of original music, the use of a computer and video camera onstage, fog and more.

The play was a lot of work but lots of fun and sold well.

Updated 10/19/17