A fast-paced, nuanced stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s legendary novel, Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker, opens the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 17th season of professional theatre at DeSales University. Performed in the intimate setting of the Schubert Theatre, the production previews June 11 and 12, opens Friday the 13, and continues through June 29.

The Production Sponsors are Dr. and Mrs. Frank J. Szarko and the co-sponsors are Keenan-Nagle Advertising, Inc., Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth. Lee and Dolly Butz are actor sponsors.

Adapted by PSF veteran Jim Helsinger, this Dracula mirrors Stoker’s original chronicle of Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor who travels from his comfortable life in Victorian London to Eastern Europe to close a business deal. “Harker’s got this great commission, so it’s nothing but excitement and a fun trip,” says Christopher Patrick Mullen, who portrays Harker, and all the characters he meets along the way in this tour de force one-actor feast.

Over the past few summers, PSF audiences have grown accustomed to Mullen’s ability to change deftly from one character to another – in The Mystery of Irma Vep last season and Around the World in 80 Days in 2005.

Matt Pfeiffer – a three-time Barrymore nominee and a finalist for the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist – returns for his 12th season at PSF to direct. A 1999 DeSales University graduate, Pfeiffer is Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Exile in Philadelphia with directing credits at the Walnut Street, Arden and Lantern theatre companies.

Five-time Emmy award-winner Bob Phillips returns to design the multi-layered set. Amy E. Lobmeyer designs costumes, Eric T. Haugen, lighting; and Matthew Given, sound. Zoya Kachadurian serves as the production stage manager.

The 2008 Festival also features Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (June 18-July 6, on the Main Stage) and King Lear (July 9-August 3, in the Schubert Theatre); Anthony Burgess’s adaptation of Edmund Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (July 16-August 3, on the Main Stage), and a musical adaptation of Kipling’s classic, The Jungle Book (through August 2, in the Schubert Theatre).

The free outdoor Green Show completes the season's offerings and is performed one hour prior to each evening performance.

Performances of Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker are Tuesdays at 7pm; Wednesdays through Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm (no 2pm Saturday, June 14); Sundays at 2pm; Sunday Evening Special [buy two tickets at full adult price and get two at $5 each]: Sunday, June 15 at 7:30pm.

Single ticket prices range from $29 to $46. Discounts are available for subscribers, seniors, students, and groups. Season tickets are still available and offer patrons the greatest discounts and flexibility. Tickets can be ordered by calling 610-282 WILL or online at www.pashakespeare.org.

The Amaranth Foundation is the 2008 Season Sponsor. Associate Season Sponsors are The Morning Call and Service Electric Cable TV & Communications.

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University is the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth and a professional, not-for-profit theatre company. An independent 501 c 3 organization, PSF receives support from DeSales University and relies on contributions from individuals, government agencies, corporations and foundations. PSF is a constituent of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, and a member of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America.

For ticket information, contact PSF at 610-282-WILL or online at www.pashakespeare.org.

Artists’ Biographies

MATTHEW GIVEN (Production Manager/Sound Designer) rejoins PSF for his fifth summer as resident sound designer and first as production manager. He has designed 25 productions at PSF, including The Winter’s Tale, The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Merchant of Venice, and Man of La Mancha. He holds an M.F.A. in sound design from Ohio University and currently serves as the resident sound designer for the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre.

ERIC T. HAUGEN (Lighting Designer, Dracula/Lear) In recent seasons at PSF, Eric has designed the lighting for Amadeus, My Fair Lady, and Henry IV, Part 1, among others. His theatrical lighting has been seen Off-Broadway and in regional theatres around the country. Based in Orlando, FL, Eric recently formed a new company, FX Lighting, which provides lighting designs for television, themed entertainment, architecture, corporate meetings, and trade shows.

ZOYA KACHADURIAN (Production Stage Manager, Dracula/Lear) Broadway stage management: stints on The Lion King, 42ND St, Annie, and An Inspector Calls, among others. Also stage managed for V-Day 2001 at Madison Square Garden with 75 stars. She directed Stones in His Pockets, The Cocktail Hour, and The Graduate for various Massachusetts theatres. In TV, Zoya was Production Coordinator for Sesame Street (two seasons), Coordinating Producer for One Life to Live and produced commercials for Nickelodeon and Time Warner.

AMY E. LOBMEYER (Costume Designer, Dracula/The Jungle Book) designed Winnie the Pooh and the Green Show for PSF last year and has designed the costumes for Act 1 DeSales University Theatre for the past nine seasons. Amy also served as PSF’s production manager in 2006 and 2005. PSF design credits also include Around the World in 80 Days, The Little Mermaid, Private Lives and Aladdin. Her designs have been seen in and around Chicago, Texas, Kansas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and England.

PATRICK MULCAHY (Producing Artistic Director, PSF) Since assuming leadership in 2003, Mr. Mulcahy has overseen PSF's return to artistic excellence and financial stability, rebuilding the professional company of artists and achieving increasing national recognition for the Festival. Further accomplishments include: PSF’s awards from the National Endowment for the Arts; featuring artists who are winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Emmy, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson and Barrymore awards to the Festival; growth in all income areas; a 50% increase in attendance, and the expansion of the number of Actors’ Equity contracts per season. As a professional director, actor, and fight director, his credits include Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, television and radio. For PSF, he directed The Winter’s Tale last season, Henry IV, Part 1 (2005), The Tempest (1999) and acted in and served as fight director for The Taming of the Shrew (1998) and Julius Caesar (1997). As Head of Acting at DeSales, he directed ten productions for Act 1, including I Hate Hamlet, The Grapes of Wrath, The Foreigner and The Diary of Anne Frank. He holds an M.F.A. in directing from Syracuse University.

CHRISTOPHER PATRICK MULLEN* (Jonathan Harker, Dracula; Edgar, Lear) is a DeSales graduate whose 20 productions at PSF include The Mystery of Irma Vep, As You Like It, Around the World in 80 Days, Hamlet, Charley’s Aunt, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and The Glass Menagerie. Regional and NY credits include: Crispin: The Cross of Lead, Assassins, Getting Near to Baby, Splittin’ the Raft, The Crucible, The Stinky Cheese Man, Hedda Gabler, The Seven Year Itch, and The Pavilion. TV: Law & Order. Chris is a member of The People’s Light & Theatre Company and Quinnopolis NY.

MATT PFEIFFER (Director, Dracula) returns to PSF for his 12th season, where his recent credits include appearing in The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Charley’s Aunt; directing Snow White, Aladdin, and the Will Power tours of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew. Other recent credits include directing An Infinite Ache (Walnut St.), Go, Dog. Go! (Arden Theatre), The Foocy (Lantern Theatre) and critically acclaimed productions of Glengarry Glen Ross and Bug for Theatre Exile, where he serves as Associate Artistic Director. He is a three time Barrymore Nominee and has been a finalist for the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist.

BOB PHILLIPS (Set Designer, Dracula/Lear/Jungle Book) designed The Winter’s Tale, Irma Vep, and Winnie the Pooh last year and more than two dozen PSF shows since 1995. Bob celebrates his fourteenth season as Resident Designer for the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre where he has designed over 60 productions. His television designs include Another World, Search for Tomorrow, and Sesame Street, where he has designed 19 seasons. Bob has received the Outer Critics Circle, Villager, Madison, and Lillian Stoates Awards for his stage work and five Emmys for his television designs.