In Focus: ‘Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors’ Rehearsals at CLC in Brainerd

Leave your garlic and wooden stakes at home for “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors,” the next production from the Central Lakes College Performing Arts Center and Brainerd Community Theatre. The cast and crew have already started rehearsing the show, which will open later in October.

The story of “Dracula” has been told in various forms since Bram Stoker’s novel first came out in 1897. Most of those stories tell a tale with spooky undertones, but in this show, Dracula will trade screams for laughs.

“It’s kind of a spoof on the actual novel, the “Dracula” novel, the story that everybody’s familiar with, and the characters are all familiar and same names and all of that,” said director Amy Borash. “But this takes a little bit of a, more of a comedic turn, and, it’s a very, very entertaining show.”

The cast is made up of just five people, with four of the five playing up to four roles. And as they begin to rehearse and learn the show, the actors are faced with the challenge of switching between the characters on the fly.

“It definitely takes a little bit to learn each different character and how to make them physically and vocally different from each other, so that way, it’s not just me, I’m three other people now,” explained Natalie Topete, who’s portraying the characters of Lucy, the Driver, and Kitty. “I need to make those very distinct people, and that’s probably the hardest part of that, making them very distinct from each other.

But playing multiple characters isn’t the only challenge facing the cast. Over the next few weeks of rehearsal, they are tasked with building the chemistry to pull off the show.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but the fun thing about it is that all of the work is really fun,” said Matt Hill, who plays Count Dracula. “And so we just get to spend time together and just, you know, hash it out and build things and, yeah, it’s just fun.”

According to Borash, seeing the show is the perfect way to spend your Halloween.

“This is a great way to spend a Halloween evening, or a Halloween weekend, or even the weekend before,” she stated. “It’s a great way to kind of work up to the fun of that holiday. You know, you sometimes, you reach a certain age and holidays become about your kids or you just feel like, ‘Oh, I’m not [part of] the bar-hopping crowd anymore’ or, ‘Oh, I don’t, you know, feel like going all out, but I want to be able to celebrate still.’ This is a great way to do that.

The show opens October 23 at CLC’s Chalberg Theatre, with performances running through November 1. More information on the show and tickets can be found on the CLC Performing Arts website.