Before Twilight and True Blood, there was Transylvania - a land of evil vampires who preyed upon unsuspecting villagers.
This October, PUSH Physical Theatre will return to Geva Theatre Center with the premiere of their latest project - a retelling of Bram Stoker's 1897 classic tale, Dracula.
The Rochester-based movement troupe is partnering with local actor and playwright Danny Hoskins for the experimental production.
"We've never collaborated to this degree with someone else - where we walked in and started (a piece) from nothing," said Darren Stevenson, who founded PUSH with his wife, Heather.
In 2006, the Stevensons met Hoskins through their mutual involvement with Young Audiences of Rochester - an organization that connects area K-12 schools to artists who can teach specialized workshops and classes - and immediately began to search for a collaborative project.
"We were looking for something classical - a really strong piece of material that we could delve into and shift to meet the way PUSH works," said Hoskins, who also wrote a musical adaptation of The Three Musketeers.
Rehearsals for Dracula began in January and a sneak peek of the show, along with a chance for audience input, was given during PUSH's Geva Theater performances last May.
The premiere has been set just in time for Halloween and the recent surge of mainstream interest in vampires, said Hoskins.
But don't expect to see the 1992 film version of Dracula brought to life on stage - and don't expect the usual PUSH performance. At just under an hour, the show is the longest in PUSH's history - and the first to incorporate speech.
"We played to our strengths and mine is acting, so we added the twist of Renfield," said Hoskins. (Renfield is the character who first invites Dracula to the village, and the story is told through his spoken narratives, which is an element foreign to PUSH's silent storytelling.)
The team of artists has created what they call a "theatrical and magical journey" by integrating several styles of theatre into Dracula. PUSH's mime and dance influences will mix with magic and special effects, while sound designer Dan Roach provides a complete score.
