{"id":261247,"date":"2025-09-28T12:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T12:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/261247\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T12:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T12:21:10","slug":"preview-drunk-dracula-at-the-emerald-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/261247\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Drunk Dracula at The Emerald Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Halloween season is upon us, and it\u2019s about to get bloodier and boozier thanks to the Drunk Shakespeare Society, which will once again present Lori Wolter Hudson\u2019s Drunk Dracula<\/a> at The Emerald Theatre from October 2 through November 15.\n<\/p>\n

\n If you\u2019re not familiar with Drunk Shakespeare, here\u2019s the set-up: At the start of each performance, one actor takes five shots of their liquor of choice before leading the rest of the cast through one of Shakespeare\u2019s classic plays in under 90 minutes.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf somebody hasn\u2019t seen the show before and they\u2019re planning to come, what they can expect is drunk, professional, and outrageous performances from five actors who are all trying to keep the show going, while one of them is blasted, completely obliterated, with alcohol,\u201d says actor Joey Herrera, who will don the Count\u2019s fangs in Drunk Dracula.\n<\/p>\n

\n Herrera, an original member of Houston\u2019s Drunk Shakespeare Society, says when it comes to The Bard, all the actors are \u201chuge nerds,\u201d and the alcohol just lets that nerdiness out.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe whole point of the drinking is that it enables us to geek out as much as we want,\u201d explains Herrera. \u201cIf we’re the drunk actor, we’ll do a monologue, and we can cut in between and talk to the audience, break the fourth wall a little bit. It’s almost like you’re preaching to your friends. It’s that back-of-the-bar-room vibe where it almost feels like a bunch of Shakespeare nerds are getting together.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n A graduate of Texas State University, where he studied acting, Herrera says a \u201cparty animal instinct kicks in\u201d for the drunk actor that makes acting become \u201clike second nature.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAs an actor, you’re always in your head about something\u2026And then, as soon as you get five shots of tequila in your body, all that goes out the window, the confidence level goes up, and you’re like, \u2018You know what? I don’t care. I’m just going to be me. I’m going to be as authentic as I can be. I’m going to nerd out about Shakespeare, or I’m going to nerd out about Halloween, and I’m going to take you guys along for the ride,\u2019\u201d says Herrera.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

click to enlarge <\/a><\/p>\n

Drunk Dracula returns to Houston for Halloween.<\/p>\n

Photo by Travis Emery <\/p>\n

In honor of Halloween, the ensemble will take audiences on a drunken ride through Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire tale Dracula.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the book that we reference, and then the drunk actor has the freedom to mess around with it,\u201d says Herrera. \u201cAnd there’s a lot of inclusion of pop culture references. We stay with the times, with the zeitgeist, and what’s currently trending, and we have a lot of fun with it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n For his own take on the Transylvanian bloodsucker, Herrera says he found inspiration in Stoker\u2019s source material and every single film he could get his hands on featuring Dracula. He also pulled from some unexpected places.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cA little bit of my own twist into it is pulling from a lot of performers, like I pull from Michael Jackson and Prince and anybody who has stage presence, because with a character as iconic as Dracula, you have to command the room,\u201d he says. \u201cI think leaning into campiness has done wonders for the production, because at the end of the day, we’re all being silly, and we’re all portraying these heightened versions of these characters. But at the same time, I’ve taken bits and pieces from every iteration of the character.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The production marks Herrera\u2019s second year in the role of Dracula, and he says the show developed something akin to a cult following last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t know so many people were into vampires,\u201d says Herrera. \u201cWe had a lot of people come see the show multiple times, and then they\u2019d bring their friends, and they’re really there for the vampire. They’re there to see some blood sucking and get hypnotized. They love it.\u201d <\/p>\n

One thing that pleasantly surprised Herrera was the number of people who showed up in costumes for the show. \u201cWe don’t really get that for Romeo and Juliet or any of the other Shakespeare things that we’ve done.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

click to enlarge <\/a><\/p>\n

Joey Herrera as Dracula in Drunk Dracula.<\/p>\n

Photo by Travis Emery <\/p>\n

For those big spenders that would like a few guaranteed audience participation opportunities, there\u2019s \u201cThe Royal Experience,\u201d a package which offers its buyers a chance to be a Count or Countess for the evening, complete with a throne and crown, a bottle of champagne, two hand-crafted cocktails, treats, and a little bell, which they can ring twice, at any time during the performance, to have the drunk actor complete a challenge or take another drink. <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey kind of become characters in the story themselves,\u201d Herrera explains. \u201cThey love it. They just soak it up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n But even if you\u2019re not royalty for the night, Herrera says you may still find yourself in Dracula\u2019s crosshairs.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAs Dracula, drunk or not, I like to lurk around the audience. And by the end, you won\u2019t know who\u2019s bit or not bit,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s fun connecting with the audience that way, and that\u2019s essential\u2014to make them feel included, even people in the back rows. To give them a memory to leave the show with.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The result of it all is a show that can be completely different from night to night, with Herrera saying there is \u201ca lot of unpredictability to it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou never really know what kind of performance you\u2019re walking into. The configuration of the cast, whoever the drunk actor is, it always changes. And it\u2019s just ever evolving.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n One thing, however, does not change, and it\u2019s the message Herrera wants anyone considering Drunk Dracula to know: \u201cWe will welcome you with open arms and open fangs.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and October 28; 7 and 9 p.m. Fridays, with an additional 5 p.m. performance on October 31; 3, 5, 7, and 9 p.m. Saturdays; and 5 and 7 p.m. Sundays through November 15 at The Emerald Theatre, 412 Travis. For more information, visit drunkdracula.com<\/a>. $49-$199, with The Royal Experience available for $500.\n<\/p>\n

\n Drunk Dracula is an adult-only show (21+) featuring strong language, vulgarity, sexual humor, and audience interaction, with potential elements of nudity. It also contains fog, strobe effects, and loud noises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halloween season is upon us, and it\u2019s about to get bloodier and boozier thanks to the Drunk Shakespeare…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":261248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[136762,42496,136763,17810,4345,9221,358,1148,35789,3187,131648],"class_list":{"0":"post-261247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-drunk-dracula","9":"tag-drunk-shakespeare","10":"tag-drunk-shakespeare-society","11":"tag-halloween","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-stage","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-theater","16":"tag-ticket-prices","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-vampires"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115281899611129245","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}