Founded in 2011 and led by Artistic Director and Playwright Aaron Henne, theatre dybbuk first came to my attention with their 2016 performance of “exagoge” at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. Their website states, “We create provocative new works that blend theatre with dance, poetry, and music for singular live experiences” and that is exactly what ones gets in their productions. Kate Hutter Mason and Kai Hazelwood are two Los Angeles based choreographers who have worked with theatre dybbuk. Director Aaron Henne appears to have learned from them as his latest production “Dracula (Annotated)” at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles is filled with both abstract and realistic movement.
The play takes place in 1887, the same year that Brom Stoker’s novel “Dracula” was published. It is in this same time period when the British Empire is expanding its imperialist rule around the world, technological advances are being made, the women’s suffrage movement is growing and large numbers of Eastern European Jews are migrating to England.
theatre dybbuk’s “Dracula (Annotated)” – (back row left to right) Jonathan C.K. Williams, Edgar Landa, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard;
(reclining) Julie A. Lockhart – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
As the audience enters, the actors are positioned around the stage, each sitting or standing next to their own all white wooden boxes that were approximately a foot and half wide by two foot tall. The box lids were open and the lids appeared to be illuminated in some way as light was reflected upon the actors’ faces. The inside of the boxes were also lined with blood red fabric.
The set and the costumes for “Dracula (Annotated)” are all white. White shipping boxes lined three sides of the stage and bright red sheets of fabric and varying widths of red ribbon pierced through all of that, as blood does when released from the human body. The five white wooden boxes become seats, a train car, a carriage, and coffins for Dracula and his “undead” victims.
theatre dybbuk’s “Dracula (Annotated)” – (clockwise from bottom left) Edgar Landa, Jonathan C.K. Williams, Adam Lebowitz-
Lockard, Diana Tanaka; (center) Julie A. Lockhart – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
Throughout the three hour play each of the five incredible actors, Edgar Landa, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, Julie A. Lockhart, Diana Tanaka, and Jonathan C.K. Williams, take on several personae as they enact Stoker’s novel. Each event or scene contains moments when the actors shift their positions to explain another event or relationship to migrating Jews, falsehoods about the Jewish people such as their kidnapping and killing of babies to use their blood to make Matzoh, that the Jews steal all the wealth from countries that they inhabit, and more. These moments are also utilized to compare the novel’s events to the struggles of women and immigrants.
theatre dybbuk’s “Dracula (Annotated)” – (clockwise from left): Jonathan C.K. Williams, Julie A. Lockhart, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard,
Diana Tanaka; (center) Edgar Landa – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
If you have not read Brom Stoker’s novel “Dracula” or seen Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 movie based on that book, you will still understand the story. The five actors portray Stoker’s main characters Mina Murray, Jonathan Harker, Professor Alexander Van Helsing, H.M. Renfield, and of course the vampires. They describe and act out how Count Dracula arrives via ship whose only crew is its dead captain who is tied to its helm. Mina’s friend Lucy Westenra becomes a victim of Count Dracula’s and, with Van Helsing’s guidance, a stake is driven through her heart, allowing her to finally rest in peace. The group travels to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania in order to save Mina who has now been infected and is under Count Dracula’s power. The audience experiences all the horror of Stoker’s novel while experiencing only abstract moments of its bloody gore.
theatre dybbuk’s “Dracula (Annotated)” – (left to right) Diana Tanaka, Edgar Landa, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, Jonathan C.K.
Williams, Julie A. Lockhart – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
For this reviewer, theatre dybbuk is one of Los Angeles somewhat hidden treasures. “Dracula (Annotated)” is lengthy, but more than worth sitting for three hours to see their latest extraordinary production. You will not be disappointed.
Kudos out to Lighting Designer Brandon Baruch who manages to create a multitude of environments for this production.
“Dracula (Annotated)” was written and directed by Aaron Henne; Music composed by R. Matthew Brown; Costume Designer: Kathryn Poppen; Production Designer: Leslie K. Gray; Musician and Sound Designer: Jeremy Robinson.
Upcoming performances of theatre dybbuk’s “Dracula (Annotated)” at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles; Friday and Saturday, October 3 & 4 at 8pm; Sunday, October 5th at 7pm; Friday and Saturday, October 10 & 11 at 8pm; and Sunday, October 12 at 7pm.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: theatre dybbuk’s “Dracula (Annotated)” – (left to right) Diana Tanaka, Jonathan C.K. Williams, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, Edgar Landa
(kneeling center) Julie A. Lockhart – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
