When Kelly Gregersen was a teen, the Washougal High School drama teacher saw a production of “Dracula” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that stuck with him. Since Washougal’s fall play opened the Thursday before Halloween this year, he decided it was a good time to stage “Dracula” with his students.
Gregersen, a 41-year-old Washougal resident, reread the Bram Stoker novel and looked at seven scripts. None stayed as true to the novel’s structure as Gregersen envisioned, so he wrote his own adaptation over the summer.
Gregersen’s play, like Stoker’s novel, uses journal entries and letters as a framework. He did take some liberties, though, downplaying the character of Quincey Morris and reimagining Dr. John Seward as female.
Gregersen has written short children’s plays, monologues and scenes before, but this is his first full-length stage creation.
“It’s like every English major, drama major. We all have that play inside of us,” he said.
Conductor recognized for performances that span globe
Clark College’s music director Don Appert is being recognized for his busy year in 2008. Last year, the Vancouver resident led premiere performances of his latest composition, “Nara Variations,” in four countries including Spain, Romania, Italy and El Salvador.
“It’s exciting to see responses of people in different countries to music I’ve written,” he said. “The old cliché about music being the international language really is true.”
Last month, Appert was rewarded for his eventful year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers with its annual ASCAPLUS Award. It was the fourth year Appert has won the award, which recognizes composers and musicians who work outside of mainstream settings, such as television or films.
Appert, 56, also received the ASCAPLUS Award in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Though he’s won the award before, it’s an honor Appert is still thrilled by.
“It’s exciting that they consider that worthwhile,” he said. “Those of us that do create music or art, oftentimes, it’s because we have to, in the sense that we have something to say, and not because there’s this great, wonderful market where we’ll make big money doing it.”
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