Seattle Theater+Dance

Taproot Theatre’s popular and literary “Dracula” fittingly closes on Halloween. In a brand new adaptation of the Victorian thriller, artistic director Scott Nolte wanted to resurrect the vampire as a monster, rather than a sparkly teen heartthrob. “A friend and I read the original 35 years ago as a dare,” Nolte recalled. What struck him then, and again in a recent dive back into the Bram Stoker classic, was how modern the material felt. “It’s a collection of letters, receipts, and journal entries. It’s presented as this evidence of this evil, proof that it really happened. You read it and it seems true.” The "Dracula" cast falls into their roles with gusto. Jeff Berryman, Melanie Hampton, Anastasia Higham, Rob Martin, Pam Nolte, Chris Shea and Daniel Stoltenberg all look and sound properly Victorian. Aaron Lamb as the mysterious count deliberately shifts his physical age and his accent in the way that slowly terrifies his guests as they puzzle out why the count...

Wever's "Midsummer's Night Dream" performed by Grand Rapids Ballet Used with permission of GRB After leaving Pacific Northwest Ballet, former principal dancers Olivier Wevers and Patricia Barker followed similar if geographically separate paths. Wevers became artistic director of Whim W’him, a company that he founded in Seattle, while Barker relocated to Michigan in 2010 as the artistic director of Grand Rapids Ballet. Now the two are back together in Seattle, with Barker’s company performing Wevers’ whimsical interpretation of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" this week at the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center. Grand Rapids Ballet also will dance a mixed repertory program called "Movemedia" consisting of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s "Written & Forgotten," Penny Saunders’ "Slight," David Parsons’ "The Envelope," and Mario Radacovsky’s "Beethoven’s 5th." “I wanted to choose ballets that high...