Director

When the lines between predator and prey blur, the power of women’s strength rises from the shadows in this fearless adaptation of Bram Stoker’s iconic DRACULA.
 
A visceral, sensual, and utterly unexpected journey into the heart of darkness, this Dracula illuminates the resilience of the feminine spirit. Created by the powerhouse duo of Vanessa Severo (Frida…A Self Portrait) and Joanie Schultz, the classic narrative is reclaimed, revealing a Dracula you’ve never seen before. Provocative and pulsing with new life, “it’s a Dracula that will surprise –delight and frighten–even the most veteran horror fans.” – Rick Pender, City Beat, Cincinnati.

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Dracula

 Kansas City Power & Light District

The ingredients for the cake are simple: eggs, butter, sugar, salt. Look closer, though, and you’ll see the essence of life itself. Every year, Ernestine bakes a cake and celebrates with her family on her birthday — a delicious ritual that unfolds onstage across 90 years of birthdays. We meet Ernestine and the people who sweeten her life every year on this day as she grows from 17 to 107 years old. Through glimpses of Ernestine’s life as the years go by, Birthday Candles tenderly explores motherhood, family, love, loss and finding your place in the universe. This charming new play, recently performed on Broadway, will warm the soul.

Birthday Candles

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

An all-American love story about two very new Americans. It’s 1975. Saigon has fallen. He’s lost his wife, she’s lost her fiancé, and home as they’ve known it will never be the same. But this isn’t a story about war: It’s a story about falling in love. Based on playwright Qui Nguyen’s family, Vietgone tells the partially true and endlessly entertaining tale of how his parents, Quang and Tong, met in a refugee relocation camp in Arkansas during the Vietnam War. They navigate their very new lives as very new Americans amidst family pressure, the challenges of migration and a culture full of motorcycles, cowboys, fast food and dreams. With irreverent humor, hip-hop and heightened theatrical storytelling, this original story reinvents the romantic comedy genre and captures your heart.

Vietgone

Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale comes back to life in this evocative world premiere where everyone has a secret…and those secrets are deadly. Lifelong friends Mina and Lucy share intimate details about the men in their lives. Dr Seward works to unlock the mystery of Renfield’s strange affliction with the help of his friend Van Helsing, who carries her own secret. Jonathan Harker returns from Transylvania with a dark disclosure. As tensions rise, temptation lures them into double lives as they unmask one man, Count Dracula. Created by Vanessa Severo (Frida…A Self Portrait) and Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Joanie Schultz, this bold, highly theatrical re-telling breathes new life and new blood into the most famous vampire story of all time and pulses with humor, humanity and blood-curdling thrills.

Director

Joanie Schultz

Events

Past events

Oct 14 - Nov 2, 2025

Dracula · Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Apr 20 - May 18, 2025

Birthday Candles · Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

About

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