By Gracyn Van Bemmel //
Hood College Theatre (HCT) plans to produce “Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” for the fall show season.
HCT auditions took place Sept. 4 and 5, and the casting list will be announced in the coming weeks.
The play, written by Kate Hamill, is an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, except this time, the women have the power and take over. The show combines horror with comedy and seeks to explore social issues through a feminist lens.
“I kind of wanted to do a scary, Halloweeny kind of show,” Aaron Angello, the show’s director, said. “I was looking at Dracula [shows], and I saw Kate Hamill’s.”
Angello, who also teaches English and literature courses at Hood, was previously in a “Pride and Prejudice” adaptation written by Hamill and is familiar with her work. “She takes classic literature and revamps them and makes them feel more modern and alive,” he said. “They’re more irreverent and funny, and she always foregrounds feminist issues in them.”
Like all of HCT’s performances, this show will differ from previous ones. There will be jump scares, horrific and eerie lighting and sound effects, and buckets of fake blood.
“I’m excited to bring a new sort of style,” Angello said. “And I’m excited to do something for Halloween because it’s my favorite time of year. I’m excited to keep expanding the theater program and bringing new people in, exposing Hood and Frederick to really good theater, and making art with people I like.”
The cast consists of six women and three men, a gender ratio with which HCT is familiar and is one of the reasons Angello chose Hamill’s adaptation rather than one keeping in line with Stoker’s original story, which would have a male-dominant cast.
However, with a higher audition interest, Angello may consider putting on a second show, potentially a series of one-act plays, with the students who weren’t cast. This ensures everyone interested in HCT can participate on-stage and behind the scenes.
There is another potential opportunity for those interested in theatre. Angello and Jeremy Myers, a theater artist based in Frederick, are working together to create a theater company to make an original production engaging with LGBTQIA+ issues. The current plan is to meet periodically through the fall semester and plan and rehearse the show in the spring.
For those who missed auditions but are still interested in joining HCT or learning more about these theater opportunities, students can reach out to Aaron Angello at angello@hood.edu.
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