The Chicago Mammals takes a bite out of Bram Stoker's Dracula with cross-gender casting that features women in roles generally reserved for men. "One of our biggest inspirations is the alien from [film director] Ridley Scott which is, at times, beautiful, but also a terrifying, very determined killing machine," said Sarah Koerner, who plays the title character.
In the novel, the female vampire is viewed as the embodiment of the fallen womana symbol of female sexuality that must be staked because she is dangerous. With a cast of women bringing these characters to life ( and death ), this subtext expands beyond gender. "We are taking this story of patriarchy, twisting it on its head, and claiming it for our own," said Koerner. "Vampirism goes back to the fall in the Garden of Eden and the notion of giving in to temptation, and we are subverting that with this cast of women. These characters are living beings that have so many options…and there is not one right way to live."
The characters in All Girl Dracula have myriad options, but what about the actresses themselves? Is the Chicago theater scene today just as fluid?
"I think it's getting better, but I will say it is tough," admits Koerner. "If you look at older plays, they are written by men, so many roles were meant for men. Fortunately, many theater companies are opening their doors and doing gender-blind and color-blind casting. Chicago theater is a place where you are expected to have an open mind so that really helps when you are trying to push yourself into the scene. People want something new here, and Chicago audiences are excited to see these old stories told in an original way," said Koerner, a Mammals company member since 2012.
This is The Chicago Mammals' fourth manifestation of its All Girl Project. Previous productions include Frankenstein, Moby Dick and Edgar Allan Poe, but with All Girl Dracula, the Mammals are out for blood. "With Dracula, we are going a bit darker than the other ones, more scary this time," explained Koerner. "We explored dark themes with Frankenstein and Moby Dick, but with this one we are setting out to terrify the audience. I think our Dracula is very visually unnerving, and is an odd mixture of sexy and horrific."
Considering Bram Stoker's Dracula lacks a fixed protagonist and is an epistolary novel told partly through diary entries and letters, the Mammals' adaptation differs slightly from Stoker's work.
"We decided to focus as much of our efforts as possible making Mina Murray the protagonist," said artistic director Bob Fisher. "Van Helsing becomes a bit of zealot, and so our protagonist is caught in the middle of this struggle between an evil that is elusive and unverifiable, which is the vampire, and another kind of evilextremismas exemplified by Van Helsing," explained Fisher. "There is a line from the Biblemost people remember Bill the Butcher saying itabout being hot or cold, but never lukewarm. It feels like American politics and the media are pushing our collective conscious towards this sort of extremism every day."
"If you look back, the Bram Stoker novel reveals a distinct difference between good and evil, pure and unclean but the version we are creating now blurs those lines," added Koerner.
All Girl Dracula marks the debut production in The Chicago Mammal's new space, Zoo Studios, located in North Center/Ravenswood. "It's in the belly of this Ravenswood building," said Koerner. "You go down steps into a dungeon-esque space that is essentially a long rectangle painted entirely black. The audience seating is very immersive, so the audience and the performers are right there with each otherwhich adds to the horror movie feeling we wanted to create."
All Girl Dracula will run Oct. 10-Nov. 21 at Zoo Studios, 4001 N. Ravenswood Ave, Suite B3. Tickets are at allgirldracula.brownpapertickets.com . Visit ChicagoMammals.com for more information .