Backstage Pass
Peek behind the curtain to see what it took for UCR theatre students, faculty, and staff to bring “Dracula” to life on stage
By Malinn Loeung | Photos by Stan Lim
T he first-ever theater performance at the newly opened UC Riverside campus, a 1954 production of Pierre Pathelin’s “All That,” had a modest production crew. A decade later, in 1964, the UCR Theatre Department officially formed with 78 students and eight faculty members. That year saw the staging of classics like “The Merchant of Venice” and “Waiting for Godot.” Known today as the Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production, it now boasts a community of more than 500 students, 14 faculty members, and eight production staff, as well as a rotating cohort of lecturers and a handful of guest artist collaborators. With a current slate of three major theatrical productions each year, the department has staged around 300 shows over the last seven decades.
This past fall saw a production of the 2023 off-Broadway show “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors,” a humorous, gender-bending retelling of Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire horror classic by Gordon Greenberg and Steven Roden. But long before the audience saw the blood-sucking antics of the cast of student actors on stage, a whole lot was happening behind the scenes. Over the summer, students participating in the department’s practicums, a unique set of courses offering hands-on experience working on theater productions, gathered in the ARTS Building on campus. There, under the guidance of director Melanie Queponds, production manager Ben Tusher, and other staff and faculty, they set to work fabricating scenery, building props, designing costumes, and preparing lighting and sound equipment before the play’s November debut. Take a look at what went on long before the curtains were drawn on opening night.
Costumes
At the start of production, costume designer Landis Maren York collaborates with the director to create designs appropriate to each character’s persona. Costume shop assistant Gee-Gee Brass ’24 and her team of students then scour the department’s costume stock, which holds thousands of pieces from previous performances that could potentially be repurposed for the current production with a little zhuzhing up. And if something doesn’t quite fit, physically or aesthetically, they pull out the seam rippers and sewing machines and start customizing: a cape that perfectly drapes Count Dracula, the seductive pansexual lead; an apron for Kitty, the kleptomaniac maid. For the “Dracula” production, the team fabricated most of the pieces, spending weeks inside the department’s costume shop ensuring the cast members not only play, but dress, the part.
“Students in the costume shop practicum learn the fundamentals of costume construction, starting with hand sewing techniques and progressing to using the sewing machines.”
— Landis Maren York, costume designer
Props
Menacing “wooden” stakes made of foam, old-timey faux pipes, ornate gold-painted frames, and other odds and ends to help ground this vampire tale in its Victorian setting are all found or crafted by scenic artist and properties designer Kerry Jones ’84 and her team of student prop magicians. Scavengers and creators, the students learn to repurpose what they can from their existing prop catalog or make new items from scratch, like the easy-to-move plywood coffin, tray of believable cheese hors d’oeuvres, and distressed ship’s manifest they fashioned for the “Dracula” production.
“Every department depends on each other to finish their part on time, and it is just constant collaboration.”
— Daniella Escobar, student prop assistant
Set Design
Students in the scenic/carpentry practicum master the tools and machinery used to construct the many sets Christopher Scott Murillo, scenic designer and assistant professor of teaching, designs each season. Scene shop students often bring a range of experience; some are comfortable using a table saw and other heavy-duty power tools and others are just becoming familiar with them. If machinery is not handled properly, it can delay entire productions. Scene shop supervisor and head carpenter Cody Norris guides students from one level of the practicum to the next, starting with basic tool safety and ensuring that all students have the skills needed to help build elaborate set pieces with hand and power tools.
“I had never really gotten to help as thoroughly in the design process of a show until practicum, so it was cool getting to try something different and seeing the process from a different role.”
— Fern Woertink, student scene assistant
Lighting and Sound
Students in the electrics practicum, covering lighting and sound design, vary in experience level. For some students, this is their first production. Others moonlight as audio-visual techs for local music venues or have worked on off-campus productions. In the weeks leading up to technical rehearsals, when the elements of the show are really coming together, the students run cable, hang lighting fixtures and speakers, and carefully set the stage lights. Under the guidance of technical director and electrics shop supervisor Sara Schatmeier, the students apply everything they’ve learned to make the stage look and sound as the designers intended. For “Dracula,” the team collaborated with guest designers Jennifer Gonzalez on lighting and Erin Bednarz on sound to achieve a dark and dreary mood with a touch of blood-red ambiance.
“I got a close-up look at lighting, from setting up the consoles and running the wires to them, as well as soldering and putting wires together to create a custom light piece for a production.”
— Liam Del Banco, student AV technician
Rehearsal
The days before opening night are a flurry of activity. Lights are adjusted, sound is checked, and practice props and costumes are replaced with the real thing. Student stage manager Vanessa Baez runs the cue-to-cue technical rehearsals for the production under the supervision of assistant production manager Johnny Macias ’19. The cast knows to start or stop when she says, “Actors, thank you,” or “Hold.” Backstage, the crew listens for things like “Standby lights 101, sound 103,” and then finally, “Lights 101 ... go.” Intimacy choreographer Shinshin Tsai is on set to remind actors of kissing cues. Everything moves as planned; hiccups are ironed out with each run, and rehearsals are halted only for the cast and crew to take mandatory 10-minute breaks.
During dress rehearsals, the dressing room is filled with the sound of vocal warmups and dusty clouds of colorful makeup. The cast, along with hair, makeup, and wardrobe, are sporadically reminded of how much time they have before the show begins. “One hour ... 30 minutes ... the house is now open ... 15 minutes ... five minutes ...” And then finally, at the published curtain time, “Places, please.”
The cast members gesture toward the tech booth during their final bow to show gratitude to the director, stage manager, designers, and production crew. (UCR/Denis Cha)
Empower Emerging Storytellers
Since our doors opened in 1954, aspiring storytellers have found a creative home at UCR. From learning to craft a unique voice to understanding the mechanics of narrative drama, your gift to the UCR Theatre Arts fund ensures this community of diverse voices continues to have the vital resources needed to tell their bold, brilliant stories.
Give today at donate.ucr.edu/spring2026.