Lee Ordeman stars as Dracula

For Immediate Release: June 13, 2014

From Romney to Dracula:
DC Actor Lee Ordeman Finds Himself at Home in the Most Extraordinary Characters

Two years ago, Lee Ordeman played Mitt Romney at several dates in the Washington-Baltimore area. He was a natural: Ordeman, the son of a Marine, imitated the ramrod-straight Romney effortlessly. “One of the Barack Obamas told me that I was the best Mitt he had worked with,” Ordeman said. “It sounded weird when he said it.”

lee ordeman hs for siteThis year it gets weirder still. Ordeman will be playing Vlad Tepes – Count Dracula – in the Fringe production, Dracula. A Love Story.

This is not your father’s Dracula. In this modern retelling, Tepes is a lobbyist – for an HMO! – with a terminally ill wife. He engages young Lucy Cervas (Carolyn Krasner) to read to Mina (Christine Hirrel). Lucy, bored by her life and particularly with her fiancée, (Joe Brack), finds herself fascinated by the passion which drives Vlad to love Mina, even in these extreme circumstances.

“Lucy seeks rapture,” says playwright Tim Treanor, “but she doesn’t realize that rapture can be had in ordinary events, by ordinary people.”
Ordeman is himself a somewhat extraordinary man. An athlete who is an expert in the Japanese martial art Shintaido, Ordeman spent years in Japan as a teacher, a dancer and a journalist before becoming an actor. He wrote and edited for the Japanese-language Japanese Times, and joined the studio of avant garde choreographer Kei Takei. Only when he returned to the Washington area did he consider becoming an actor.

He studied under Paul Berman, and received his MFA in Acting from Catholic University. Since then, he’s been in the Sam Rockwell-Olivia Wilde movie Better Living Through Chemistry (with Jane Fonda and Ray Liotta) and on HBO’s Game Change. He’s acted at Scena and in the web series Drakul, where he is not Dracula. And he’s been Mitt.

“I’m interested in the human aspects of my characters, no matter how unusual they are,” Ordeman says. “I like this script because I’m working with a character who is at first human – yearning and frustrated – and only afterward the ‘great and lawless vampire.’ Plus, of course, I’m working with two first-rate directors and an excellent cast.”

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What:

 

Dracula . A Love Story
by Tim Treanor
Who: Directed By: Christopher Henley and Jay Hardee

Starring: Joe Brack*, Brian Crane, Christine Hirrel, Carolyn Kashner, Lynn Sharp Spears, Josh Speerstra
Featuring: Lee Ordeman* as Dracula

Full bios can be found here.

*Members of Actors Equity Association

Where: Mountain – at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church
900 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC   20001
When:

 

Saturday, July 12: 3:45pm – 5:15pm
Friday, July 18: 10:30pm – midnight
Sunday, July 20: 6:15pm – 7:45pm
Thursday, July 24: 8:15pm – 9:45pm
Saturday, July 26: 10:45pm – 12:15am
Tickets & Passes: Go to capitalfringe.org or call 866-811-4111.
Photos: High resolution photos related to our show will be available at: https://www.timtreanorauthor.com/dracula-love-story/
Dracula .
A Love Story Publicist & Contact:
Kendra Rubinfeld, KRPR, 202-681-1151,
Kendra@KendraRubinfeldpr.com
Fringe Festival Press Contact: Laura Gross, 202-695-8223, c: 202-255-2054, press@capitalfringe.org
Official Handle and Hashtags

 

@Count_Tepes
#draculalovestory #capfringe14


Quote about Dracula . A Love Story

Dracula. A Love Story is not just a new way of looking at an old legend. It’s a new way of looking at the legend’s values and issues in light of what we have learned since then about our passions, human psychology, and about the ambiguous nature of good and evil.”

–Tim Treanor, playwright and producer

About our Cast

Professional actors often seen on DC stages including The Kennedy Center, Studio Theater, Theater J, SCENA, Imagination Stage, Arena Stage, WSC Avant Bard and more.  Two of the actors are veterans to the Capital Fringe stage, including Joe Brack, who produced and starred in last year’s Fringe hit, My Princess Bride. Full bios can be found here.

About our Playwright

This is Tim Treanor’s second play. His first, Murder in Elsinore, enjoyed a local run. Over the past nine years, Tim Treanor has reviewed over five hundred plays for the theater website DC Theatre Scene. He’s reviewed musicals for The Sondheim Review, and is now Vice-President of the American Theatre Critics Association.

About our Co-Directors

Married couple and fathers of twins, Chris Henley and Jay Hardee continue their collaboration as co-directors in this production. Christopher Henley began acting and directing around DC with Source Theatre Company in the late 1970s. He was a founding Ensemble Member at WSC Avant Bard (formerly Washington Shakespeare Company); was its Artistic Director for more than 16 years; and continues as its Artistic Director Emeritus and as a member of the Acting Company.  Jay Hardee has been acting in the DC theater scene since 2005 and directing since 2008 with WSC Avant Bard, Church Street Theater and Clark Street Playhouse.

About our Company

This is the debut play for Wry Productions, an offshoot of Wry Press, which has published Tim Treanor’s political thriller, The Seduction of Braulio Jules.

About Capital Fringe

Capital Fringe is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2005 with the purpose of connecting exploratory artists with adventurous audiences by creating outlets and spaces for creative, cutting-edge, and contemporary performance in the District. Capital Fringe’s vital programs ensure the growth and continued health of the local and regional performing arts community by helping artists become independent producers while stimulating the vibrant cultural landscape in our city.

 

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