Who is Dracula and What is it Like to Portray the Iconic Character?
The seductive Count Dracula makes his chilling return to the Benedum stage this Halloween weekend! Based on Bram Stoker’s classic horror story, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT) is performing Michael Pink’s Dracula from October 31 – November 2, 2025. With Halloween quickly approaching, we spoke to PBT Principal Artist Lucius Kirst, who will portray Dracula on Saturday, November 1st at 2:00 p.m. Sharing exclusive insights into the thrilling production, he gives us a peek into the preparations for the spellbinding ballet.
What’s it like portraying Dracula?
It’s always fun to be the title character in any ballet, and he’s such an iconic character. The costumes are awesome for him as well which always makes roles feel cooler. I remember when we did the photo shoot and I first put on the red jacket, I was already excited to play him before having seen any of the choreography. Dracula is my first major role that would be deemed a villain, and he’s the ultimate villain to portray. He gets to kill and die onstage, there’s blood, fights and vampires— it’s a dream role.
How would you describe the character of Dracula?
He has the ultimate power (he thinks, at least), which is an unlimited amount of time. Obviously, he has other powers like his supernatural strength, his ability to turn people into vampires etc., but the unlimited amount of time is the most informative to dancing the role. He never has to hurry anywhere, since he has all the time in the world; everything is calm and smooth, and the choreography reflects that brilliantly. There’s an eerie, quiet power in his stillness. He’s a complex character, because the curse of unlimited time is that he inevitably loses everything he loves. He seems unable to learn from his pains of the past, and repeats the process by falling in love again with Mina.
What is it like to do more of a dramatic ballet?
There’s a lot of drama in many of the classic ballets, but this adaptation of Dracula centers around the drama of the story. There’s not just dancing for the sake of dancing, everything furthers the storytelling. It’s a more complex story to tell than a lot of the classical ballets, so there’s a heavier focus on the acting. Many of the scenes with less dancing and more acting and pantomime are actually much harder to learn, remember and rehearse than the dancing for me.
What is your favorite scene?
It’s a scene towards the end of the ballet in Act Three, when Dracula brings his bride-to-be, Mina, onstage with all the Undead. It’s the penultimate scene. Dracula thinks he’s gotten everything he wanted, and he simply walks around the stage with Mina. It sounds simple, but the music is a beautiful piece of choral music, the costume is amazing and there’s an intense energy onstage. It’s when I feel that Dracula is at his most powerful. You also know that all your hardest dancing is done, so you get to just enjoy the moment and soak it all in without any nerves or looming pressures.
What personality characteristics of Dracula are the most fun to portray? The least fun?
Honestly, they’re all pretty fun. He’s a great character to play, and the choreography facilitates that. There are a lot of aspects to his character that aren’t common in other ballets. Obviously, you can always bring something new to any role, but it’s such well-thought-out and thorough choreography that, almost just by doing the steps as they’re taught, you’re portraying a fully formed character.
Do you consider Dracula to be romantic or seductive?
I suppose he must be a little bit romantic. Some part of him is still human enough to remember what love is, since he falls in his version of love with Mina. I think he looks at most people primarily as a food source, however every once in a while, he comes across someone special. Perhaps they remind him of his first love. He has a certain power of seduction, it’s hard to say how much of that is magic and how much isn’t. In the real world, he has no magic, but his story has enraptured people for more than a century.