The Country Gate Playhouse, 114 Greenwich Street, Belvidere, NJ, will hold open auditions for its upcoming production, Dracula.  Auditions will be held Wednesday, August 28, at 7pm, at the Country Gate Playhouse, 114 Greenwich Street, Belvidere, NJ. The show is scheduled to be presented October 26 (7pm) & 27 (1pm) and Nov. 2 (7pm) & 3 (1pm). The play, based on the Bram Stoker novel and adapted by Steven Dietz, is the story of a vampire…Dracula, a Transylvanian Count who moves to England in order to stalk his prey and feed on the blood of the local population.

The cast calls for five men and two women.  They are as follows:

Jonathan Harker

A solicitor whose firm sends him to Transylvania to conclude a real estate transaction with Dracula. Young and naïve, Harker quickly finds himself a prisoner in the castle and barely escapes with his life. He demonstrates a fierce curiosity to discover the true nature of his captor and a strong will to escape. Later, after becoming convinced that the count has moved to London, Harker emerges as a brave and fearless fighter.

Dracula

A centuries-old vampire and Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula inhabits a crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains. Beneath a veneer of aristocratic charm, the count possesses a dark and evil soul. He can assume the form of an animal, control the weather, and he is stronger than twenty men. His powers are limited, however—for instance, he cannot enter a victim’s home unless invited, cannot cross water unless carried, and is rendered powerless by daylight.

Mina

Jonathan Harker’s fiancée. Mina is a practical young woman who works as a schoolmistress. Eventually victimized by Dracula herself, Mina is also the best friend of the count’s first victim, Lucy Westenra. Mina is in many ways the heroine, embodying purity, innocence, and Christian faith—virtues she maintains despite her suffering at the vampire’s hands. 

Lucy

Mina’s best friend and an attractive, vivacious young woman. The first character in the story to fall under Dracula’s spell, Lucy becomes a vampire, which compromises her much-praised chastity and virtue, and banishes her soul from the promise of eternal rest. 

Dr. John Seward

A talented young doctor, formerly Van Helsing’s pupil. Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Dracula’s English home. Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients, Renfield, in order to understand better the nature of life-consuming psychosis. 

Renfield

A patient at Seward’s mental asylum. Variously a strong behemoth and a refined gentleman, Renfield indulges a habit of consuming living creatures—flies, spiders, birds, and so on—which he believes provide him with strength, vitality, and life force.

Abraham Van Helsing

A Dutch professor, described by his former pupil Dr. Seward as “a philosopher and metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day.” Called upon to cure the ailing Lucy Westenra, Van Helsing’s contributions are essential in the fight against Dracula. 

The auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. The show is under the direction of Gina Scurato.