Transylvania-bound
Vampires and buckets of blood make for one spooky welcome to Halloween.
But this isn’t some cult horror film, it’s Dracula at the Virginia Samford Theatre, and it’s opening just in time for Halloween.
Everyone knows Bram Stoker’s story, but Homewood residents Elizabeth Pasarilla-Richardson and Kyle Bass are bringing the tale to life as the lead characters Mina and Van Helsing.
Van Helsing
Meet the “token old guy” in the cast.
Kyle Bass is used to getting a lot of laughs and applause in the comedies and musicals he has performed in, but now he’s performing in a new genre — one with more blood.
“With vampire hunters being a little more popular, I think that will be kind of fun to do,” Bass said. “I usually do more of the comedies, musicals and that kind of thing, so it’s a little bit out of my wheelhouse.”
Bass acted all through high school and college. When he had kids, he took 10 to 15 years off to focus on them, but once they started doing their own things, he took the opportunity to jump back into acting.
He has a long list of credits, including Jesus in Godspell, Nicely-Nicely in Guys and Dolls and Buddy in Buddy the Musical. And he does all this acting while still maintaining his nine-to-five job.
“Even back in college I was a computer science major, so maybe it’s that left brain, right brain thing,” Bass said. “You work during the day time, so it’s a nice release to get out, do a show and do a little entertaining.”
Bass’ talents don’t stop with performing. In 2012, the Virginia Samford Theatre presented a play he wrote, The Pablo Cruise Incident.
Mina
Elizabeth Pasarilla-Richardson didn’t start out doing straight theater.
She started singing in high school and landed her first role in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when she was 15. The community college production changed everything for her.
From there, Pasarilla-Richardson earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical opera. She has many operatic credits including Suor Genevieve from Suor Angelica and Sally in Die Fledermaus with Mississippi Opera, but she still loves performing in musical and straight theater.
“I always loved musical theater still so much, and it was really hard for me to figure out where I belonged,” Pasarilla-Richardson said. “I like to call myself a crossover because I’m not really a big enough voice to do opera, like lead role kind of opera, but I also am not belty straight theater shows. So I really do well in crossover shows.”
Two years ago, she moved to Homewood and started getting involved with the theater crowd in Birmingham. Because singing opera is so different from theatrical training — opera singers sing very challenging music and they do it without a microphone — she said it has been fun exploring all types of theater and getting to find her own way.
She started with the Virginia Samford Theatre playing Grace in Annie and found out about auditions for Dracula at a rehearsal. She read the script and loved it, so she decided it would be fun to jump from a happy play like Annie into a dark show like Dracula.
“A show like Dracula is great because any time I am not hired because of my singing voice, it’s really good for me,” Pasarilla-Richardson said. “It really pushes me, and it really lets me focus. I love going to the theater and going, ‘I don’t have to sing a note today.’ Because that’s always what I’m thinking.”
Due to unforeseeable circumstances, Leah Hudspeth, Pasarilla-Richardson's understudy, will be performing the role of Mina in the upcoming produciton. Hudspeth and Bass will be appearing in the Virginia Samford Theatre’s Dracula, which will be showing from Oct. 30 to Nov. 9. For more information, call 251-1206 or visit virginiasamfordtheatre.org.