Taber Players set the stage for a bloody good time

Times Photo Submitted. DRACULA MEETS MONTY PYTHON: Evan Runquist and Jocelyn Steinborn are both cast in the Taber Players’ comedic spin on Dracula.

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Just in time for Halloween, the Taber Players present Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors. The Players will be on stage at Taber Legion Hall on successive weekends for Thurs. – Sat. shows starting on Oct. 23.

 Evan Runquist stars as Dracula, a “smooth talking, coffin collecting, shadow dwelling kind of guy,” according to the Players’ social media page.

 Co-producer and actor Jocelyn Steinborn gave a mostly spoiler-free synopsis of what’s in store for the latest production. She called it a comedy that follows in the footsteps of Bram Stoker’s Dracula before veering into Monty Python territory.

 “There is a family with one golden daughter and the other daughter has all the recessive genes. Those are my two daughters. I play a dad. There is some double casting, so that one male character plays two female characters, which makes it absolutely hilarious, because he’s over six foot and he has to play my one daughter that has all the recessive genes, but he also plays Dr. Van Helsing, who is a German doctor who has been sent for to cure my one daughter’s illness. And really what it is is that Dracula has bit her,” Steinborn said.

 The play was developed and the Players held their first read-through rehearsal on Aug. 27. Kristan Adkins directed the production, with Steinborn and Jaclynn Elfring as producers. The cast is composed of Runquist, Steinborn, Megan Tolchard, Trevor Marsden, Angela Renner and Spencer Wannop.

 This time around, instead of rummaging through closets and thrift stores, the Players enlisted a costume mistress, Noel Kehler, who “just knocked herself out with sewing cloaks and capes and coats, and that’s something new for us,” Steinborn said.

 With one of the show nights landing on Halloween, the Players are inviting that night’s audience to dress in a costume. “If they have a cape, they can become Dracula too,” she said. “So we have a whole audience full of Dracula. Some people might want to just dress up, period. But I just think it would be really fun to have capes.”

 An adult-friendly concession will include blood red treats and candy bags, along with red wine, canned Caesars, and red vodka drinks. “We’ll see if people get the theme,” Steinborn said. “If they know Dracula at all, it is about his quest for blood.”

 Doors open at 7 and the show begins at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 23, 24, 25 and then again on Oct. 30, 31, Nov. 1.