(Photo via Renaissance Theatre Company’s Facebook)
For its sixth year, the immersive, 360-degree experience of “Nosferatu: The Citadel” and VBar returns to the Renaissance Theatre Company through Nov. 7.
“Nosferatu” first took the stage at the Ren in 2021, introducing the land of the living to the world of the undead. Whether it’s vampires, dancers, or artists, each corner hides a creature of the night, ready to offer a glimpse into their world.
The VBar, open on performance nights, allows guests to end the night sipping on specialty cocktails and watching drag performances alongside a live band. The theater returned to its home venue 6 months ago after it failed an annual inspection from the City of Orlando. Now, the VBar is back and better than ever, tying the night of immersive vampire fun together.
“I would say that those 6 months really jostled the entire community, especially our full-time staff,” Erin McNellis, a new actor for this year’s “Nosferatu,” says. “I think that even though we reopened in March, a lot of us have felt that we are not really open until we open ‘Nosferatu,’ and so crossing this finish line has been even bigger.”
McNellis has been involved with the Ren for years, working on front-of-house and payroll for “Nosferatu.” Now, coming on as an actor for the first time brings a lot more anticipation for McNellis’ performance.
Adonis Perez-Escobar, an actor in “Nosferatu” for the past five years, shares a similar heartwarming feeling about the VBar’s return.
“I know what it feels like now, when it was taken away from me, away from all of us so soon that it’s just so special,” Perez-Escobar says. “I need to cherish it because last year we got 2 weeks, and then we lost about 40 shows.”
The closure occurred during the Ren’s largest annual production, “Nosferatu,” and financial losses have exceeded $500,000. The initial closure led to a more in-depth permitting process due to the immersive nature of the kinds of productions that the Ren produces, the company shared.
The Ren estimates the closure resulted in more than $1 million in losses, including over $500,000 invested in the production of “Nosferatu” and roughly $600,000 in lost revenue.
With the whole building being the stage, collaboration is one of the key pieces in “Nosferatu.” Each room guests walk into offers a different experience with a different vampire, each who have connections with each other, and so much lore.
“If you can’t collaborate, there’s no way you can get past the first couple of rehearsals, just because the show is so big and so expansive. There are about 88 scenes in total,” Perez-Escobar says. “You can’t do that by just focusing on yourself. You have to trust that other people are also going to bring in something and add layers to it.”
McNellis shares a similar sentiment, adding that collaboration spreads between the dancers, performers, costume designers, lighting designers and sound designers.
“So it’s actually a constant communication with every single person in the building who walks into the building,” McNellis says. “It’s all built on collaboration.”
“The other key collaboration is the audience. We don’t know what the show is, I would say, until maybe three weeks into the run because a big part of the collaboration process is with the audience,” Perez-Escobar says. “Considering you’re rehearsing in these rooms with no one and then all of a sudden there’s 25 people and someone’s sitting in the chair that I had originally blocked to do something on, so now I have to sort of create a bit to either work with that person in the chair or find a way to move them out of the chair, or even just moving them from room to room, there’s an art ot that.”
Along with the collaboration comes building the world. McNellis’ character was built from scratch for this performance, allowing her to design the character from the ground up.
“For me, my character didn’t really exist before this season, so it was the first rehearsal, and I was like, ‘Who is she?'” McNellis says. “The jump between rehearsal and tech week is such a testament ot the collaboration and the creation of a world that didn’t really exist until a couple of weeks ago.”
“It’s this sort of thing where there’s a switch that flips and all of a sudden, I’m in vampire mode,” Perez-Escobar says. “But that vampire mode comes from years of experience. I feel like William, my William, gets more special and more rounded every year because I am using the past years to sort of build on this character that I’ve been playing. It’s an element of play and exploration.”
One of the things that separates the Ren’s “Nosferatu” from other theater is that it breaks the stereotypes of traditional theater.
“Most theaters aren’t doing this 360 full building, so intricately designed; I think every element is at its highest potential. The sets, the costumes, everyone is just a real working professional collaborating at the highest level in a warehouse next to a hospital,” McNellis says. “It’s kind of incredible, I think, also, because the Ren is such a queer space. We’re exploring that so much. I think that there is something also about vampires that kind of lends itself to that, that we’re not afraid to do anything, really. It’s so silly to be so seen in a vampire show, but that really is what happens.”
“You would not expect it in a vampire show, but I feel so seen. These characters- that is what I’ve always wanted to experience in theater,” Perez-Escobar says. “When you think of theater, people will jump to, especially if you’re not a theater person, you’ll think of a living room drama with characters from a different time period. It just feels like a breath of fresh air because I can come in here and, you‘d be surprised, but you don’t see a lot of queer stories on stage very often.”
Most importantly, although the show gets you up close and personal with the blood-sucking creatures, it promotes diversity. People of all types and ages, those who know theater and those who have never been before, are welcome to explore the world of “Nosferatu.”
“I hope what they take away is an element of curiosity. You come in, and there are all these rooms to explore; there are all these little details that are in the rooms if you look for them,” Perez-Escobar says. “I think the curiosity is built into the show. Feel free to dig into that and explore that and allow yourself to be sort of sucked into this world.”
See “Nosferatu: The Citadel” at The Renaissance Theater through Nov. 7. The show is strictly 18+, and does have a strict dress code. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit RenTheatre.com/Nosferatu.
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