By Victoria Gross

A scene from Pima Community College’s production of “Dracula”. Photo from Pima Arts’ Instagram

Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is a hallmark of Halloween and an inspiration to goths everywhere. Naturally, the Pima Community College theatre department’s opening night of the stage adaptation was sold out. Meg O’Connor’s adaptation, directed by Maryann Green, took place from Oct. 17-27 at the Black Box Theatre at Pima’s Center for the Arts. The production ran as smooth as a well-oiled machine without a single faulty part.

The crew created a bewitching atmosphere. The room was dark except for a few candles which lit the simple, yet eye-catching set. Eerie music set the mood. The lights went out, and the play began.

The rhythm and harmony created by the ensemble actors in the train station scene set a ton of initial momentum. Here, Jonathan Harker is trekking to Transylvania. At one stop on his long journey, he is caught in a bustling train station where people are shoving and weaving their way around. Jonathan was seeking clarity about his path. As he asked for directions, the actors’ movements slowed for a beat, then resumed a normal pace. It was hypnotic, dancelike and incredibly in sync.

Throughout the play, the technical aspects kept the audience completely immersed in the experience. Music continued to set the tone and engaged viewers, swelling during tense points and creating space during soft scenes. The lighting was A1. For outdoor scenes, soft yellow lighting gave the illusion of rich sunlight. Choreographed fight scenes left the audience gasping, and the stagehands were as quiet and swift as ninjas.

Every performance was exquisite. The main actors had a firm grasp of their characters. With “Dracula” came chaos, Mina brought stability, Lucy was lovely and so on. The comedic moments were surprising but welcomed. At times, Lady Renfield and Dr. Seward added much-needed levity to the show. Every time Quincy Morris (played by Estevan Silvas) spoke, the audience erupted with laughter. The ensemble cast members were swift with costume changes and kept the energy high.

It was a splendid, spooky and memorable event.

Interview with the Vampire

Mika Gordon’s performance as Count Dracula was inspiring. They provided insight into the creation of this production.

Q: Do you need to be a theater major to perform in a play?

A: Nope. If you’re enrolled in even one class at Pima, no matter what class it is… you’re eligible to audition for any shows at the theater.

Q: How is this play different from the book?

A: This is an original production. It has a lot of similarities to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, but it also changes a lot. We changed Van Helsing and Renfield to women, and there’s more of a focus on female leads and empowerment, which I love. Dracula’s gender is also more ambiguous. They use he/him pronouns for Dracula, but he’s not played as a man. I’m a genderqueer trans-person myself, and I put a lot of that into the role with encouragement from my director.

Q: Describe your Dracula.

A: My Dracula is very unorthodox because I am not of the stature and build that you would expect from someone playing Dracula. It’s traditionally a very masculine, very imposing role. I’m of a shorter stature, and I’m more feminine so I tune into the unexpectedness and the underdog angle. You might underestimate me by looking at me, but I bring the power in other ways.

Gordon certainly brought the power and was a fantastic, alluring and frightening Dracula. He can be found at @mikagordonacting on Instagram.

Standout Performances

Every actor did a fantastic job and held their own on stage. So much so that it was difficult to pick a favorite performance. Still, two performances stood out: Julia Darling Snook and Cayden Clark.

From the first scene to the last, Snook was a Marvelous Mina Harker.

Q: Do you want to pursue a career in acting?

A: Some kind of career in acting or screenwriting. I’m open to whatever. When I was little I would’ve said, “Yes, I wanna be an actress, pursue Broadway,” but it’s such a hard business and it can be really hard on your mental health. So, I’ve been opening myself to different opportunities like short film acting, or like screen-writing or directing. It’s all out there, but I would love to create whether it’s cinema or theater. I think art is beautiful, and that’s what I want to do because I struggle with mental health. People say that becoming a therapist is the most influential you can be on mental health, but for me watching movies or shows that connected with what I was going through was more inspiring than any therapy. So, I want to create things that connect to other people.

Q: What was your favorite part to act?

A: I think, again going back to relationships, I really like connecting with different characters. That’s one of my favorite parts of acting. I love the freakout scene where I’m covered in blood, and I’m absolutely miserable and in distress and all the characters come to comfort Mina. Jonathan’s there and it’s such a beautiful thing because it shows that even in a scary circumstance, friendship is a beautiful thing. People can come together and you have people that have your back to help defeat your demons.

Snook can be found at @JuliaDSnook528 on Instagram.

Clark was a captivating and comedic Dr. John Seward.

Q: What is your pre-show ritual?

A: I usually just take a minute by myself quietly and I just focus. I try not to let anything distract me, and I know that I know my lines, and I know that I know what I’m doing, and it just flows. It just works.

Q: Are you a Dracula fan?

A: I have never really been super into Dracula until this show, because I think it’s so universal and mainstream. Everyone knows Dracula and the vague story of Van Helsing, but once I started doing this show—the script is really good. Our playwright Meg O’Connor did such a great job, and it really got me invested in the story.

Cayden was very grateful to Chris Will, a theater instructor at Pima, who helped him fall back in love with theater after some distasteful experiences. Cayden is passionate about theater and intends to pursue it as a hobby.

Each actor gave great kudos to O’Connor. She had positive things to say about the actors as well.

“I thought they were wonderful. I mean really, every single actor did such a good job. In my production of it we had 32 actors playing all the parts, and so to watch those four ensemble members switch and switch and switch, they were terrific!” O’Connor said. “I mean really, I thought that was so much fun seeing them keep coming out as different people, and so yeah they were awesome. But then also, you have every single actor in this was doing such a good job. So, it was really fun to see.”

Behind the Scenes

Mason Shea O’Donnell played Pavola, and was the makeup and hair artist/consultant for the actors.

Q: When you’re designing a makeup look, are you trying to sculpt someone’s face or is it more 2D?

A: It depends. So, if you’re doing special effects makeup you can either carve someone’s face into it, kind of like pumpkin sculpting. But like, I was in “Addams Family” last semester, so a lot of my ancestors’ characters—it was basically coloring your face and doing shadow work to look more like a dead person. It just really depends on what you’re really going for in different shows.

O’Donnell was mesmerizing as Pavola, and her makeup and hair looks were on point for each character. She is pursuing a degree in theater and cosmetology so that she can do stage makeup professionally. She is on Instagram at @Masiesheaodonnell, and her business email is [email protected].

Audience Feedback

The play ended and the lights went up. The entire audience stayed for the Q&A session. Their main highlight was the ensemble cast.

The audience was full of Pima Students, faculty and people from the Tucson community, including one horror-fanatic family. An attendee by the name of Juliet reflected on the performance.

Q: How did you hear about the play?

A: I think I saw something on social media. My kids are really into scary movies and whatnot, so I thought this would be a fun first theatrical performance to bring ‘em to.

Q: What was your favorite scene?

A: I think my favorite scene was the introduction of Lady Renfield. I love how kind of an unexpected character she was, and I thought it was really well acted.