Ep. 19 - Hannah Rae Montgomery: "Playing" with Dracula

It’s October, it finally feels like fall, and it’s time for everything creepy, scary, spooky, and things that go bump in the night. And if you are local, it means it’s time to book your theater tickets for Dracula which is performed every fall season by the Actor’s Theater of Louisville.

Actors Theater is one of the top regional theater companies in the nation. It’s won Tony Awards and many notable performers have graced its stage including Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Kevin Bacon, and Kathy Bates to name just a few. It’s Humana Festival of New American plays which takes place every Spring is internationally known and Newsweek once called it, “a miniature Cannes film festival for theater”. Crowd favorites like Dracula and A Christmas Carol make this theater company beloved in the city.

Today’s guest, Hannah Rae Montgomery, is Actor’s theater’s dramaturg. Don’t know what a dramaturg is? Neither did we until we talked with Hannah Rae. A dramaturg is basically a literary editor on the staff of a theater who helps the directors interpret and research texts for their productions. She tells us what is new and fresh about the roles for women in this year’s Dracula, why people come to see it year after year, and how Bram Stoker’s book differs from the play adaptation. It’s close to Halloween and time to talk literature’s favorite vampire.

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Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.