PHILADELPHIA – This October, the Rosenbach Museum & Library – home of Bram Stoker's original research notes and outlines for Dracula – brings visitors another chilling Dracula Festival with a month-long series of events, beginning October 1, 2009, inspired by Stoker's classic novel and the iconic figure. A full schedule, including event descriptions and admission information, follows below.
The 7th Annual Dracula Festival will include an exclusive reading and book signing of Dracula The Un-Dead by author Dacre Stoker (Wednesday, October 21), Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew, and Dracula historian Ian Holt. Stoker and Holt will be on hand at the Rosenbach to read from and discuss the book – a bone-chilling sequel based on Bram Stoker’s own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition of Dracula. Dracula The Un-Dead is deeply researched, rich in character, thrills and scares, and lovingly crafted as both an extension and celebration of one of the most classic popular novels in literature. Visit www.draculatheundead.com to read more about the book and watch a preview for the book on YouTube.
Dracula Festival will also feature a range of talks and tours: The Growth of Stoker’s Dracula, a Hands-On Tour, Frightening Tales from a Poisoned Past, a new Historic House Tour and Monster Stew: The Bogeymen in Sendak’s Closet, a Gallery Talk. The festival will also include Dracula-related film screenings and courses in association with the Bryn Mawr Film Institute (numerous Oct. dates).
The family-friendly Dracula Party, a twist on the museum’s Dracula Parade which has been presented in years past, will welcome back Spiral Q Puppet Theater (www.spiralq.org) and introduce a new partner, the Filter Square Improvement Association (www.fitlersquare.org). Held on Saturday, October 24 from 3 – 8 p.m., the quintessential Halloween event will feature ghoulish fun for all ages, with free activities running throughout the day at both Fitler Square Park and the Rosenbach Museum. Dracula Party events include face painting, a pumpkin hunt, Halloween crafts, spooky live music, larger-than-life characters from the novel Dracula and the ever-popular Dracula-inspired shadow-puppet play created by Spiral Q Puppet Theater.
The Rosenbach Museum & Library is located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students, and free for children under 5. Events associated with the Dracula Party are free; all other Dracula Festival events are included in the price of museum admission. For more information, please call (215) 732-1600 or visit www.rosenbach.org.
7th Annual Dracula Festival Schedule of Events:
Historic House Tours: Tales from a Poisoned Past
Thursdays, October 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29, 6 p.m.
Saturdays, October 3, 10, 24, & 31, 3 p.m.
Tales from a Poisoned Past will examine some of the dangerous or even deadly aspects of seemingly innocuous historical objects on display in the Rosenbach brothers’ home.
Dracula The Un-Dead, Reading and Book Signing
by Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s Great-grandnephew, and Dracula Historian Ian Holt
Wednesday, October 21, 6 p.m.
RSVP requested, please email rsvp@rosenbach.org or call 215-732-1600.
Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew, and Dracula historian Ian Holt will speak about the new book Dracula The Un-Dead, the sequel to Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the prototypical horror novel, an inspiration for the world’s seemingly limitless fascination with vampires. Though many have tried to replicate Stoker’s horror classic – in books, television shows, and movies – only the 1931 Bela Lugosi film bore the Stoker family’s support. Until now. Dracula The Un-Dead is a bone-chilling sequel based on Bram Stoker’s own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition.
Advance Praise for Dracula The Un-Dead:
"Energetically paced and packed with outrageously entertaining action, this supernatural thriller is a well-needed shot of fresh blood for the Dracula mythos." – Publishers Weekly
"The authors (Stoker is a descendant of Bram, and Holt is a noted Dracula historian) skillfully explore the nature of evil while weaving together several complex plotlines throughout this mesmerizing story. Readers who enjoy dark fantasy with fast-paced action will plow through this book, not wanting to stop." – Library Journal
To request a book copy for review, or schedule an interview with Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, in relation to the Rosenbach reading, please email emaleigh@canarypromo.com.
Gallery Talk: Monster Stew: The Bogeymen in Sendak’s Closet
Thursday, October 22, 6 p.m.
Maurice Sendak’s relationship to scary and threatening creatures goes way beyond the Where the Wild Things Are. Meet some of his bogeymen face-to-face in this gallery talk accompanying Too Many Thoughts to Chew: A Sendak Stew, and find out where they come from in history, art and Sendak’s own imagination.
Dracula Party
Saturday, October 24, 3 – 8 p.m.
Join the Rosenbach for this quintessential Halloween event, this year welcoming a new partner. The Rosenbach teams up with the Fitler Square Improvement Association and special guests Spiral Q Puppet Theater to present a variety of Dracula and Halloween-related activities. This free event offers ghoulish fun for all ages.
Fitler Square Park, set on Pine Street between 23rd and 24th Streets, is located five blocks east of the Schuylkill River. The half-acre park is set on the edge of the Center City shopping district and just a few blocks southwest of the Rosenbach and Rittenhouse Square.
At Fitler Square Park, on Pine Street between 23rd and 24th Streets:
3 – 5 p.m., Get your face painted, hunt for pumpkins, create a Halloween craft, all to the tune of spooky live music.
At the Rosenbach Museum & Library at 2008-2010 Delancey Place:
3 – 8 p.m., Discover Bram Stoker's research notes and outlines for Dracula.
6 – 8 p.m., Meet larger-than-life characters from the novel Dracula, created by Spiral Q Puppet Theater, as they saunter around the 2000 block of Delancey Place.
7 p.m., Delight in Spiral Q’s ever-popular Dracula-inspired shadow-puppet play.
Hands-On Tours: The Growth of Stoker’s Dracula
Sunday, October 25 and Sunday, November 1, 3:00 p.m.
Get up close and personal with Bram Stoker’s notes for the novel as Rosenbach staff discuss what it takes to create an enduring monster.
Dracula Festival events at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
824 W Lancaster Ave # 5
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
(610) 527-1319
www.brynmawrfilm.org
Screening of Nosferatu the Vampyre at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Wednesday, October 7, 7 p.m.
This creepy 1979 vampire film was written and directed by Werner Herzog and set in 19th-century Germany and Transylvania. The film is based on the 1922 German Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens and stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula and Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker.
Admission is $5 for Rosenbach Museum & Library members, $9.50 for non-members. Contact the Bryn Mawr Film Institute at (610) 527-4008 for more information.
Film Course: Beyond Dracula: Modern Vampire Films at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute
October 7, 14, 21 and 28, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
This course, taught by Alice Bullitt, Programming Manager at the BMFI, examines the figure of the vampire in a variety of filmic incarnations, beginning with the prototype, Dracula, in Werner Herzog's haunting and atmospheric Nosferatu, and continuing with some more recent films that offer diverse takes on the creature. Additional films are Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark, Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, based on the Anne Rice series, and last year's stunningly original Let the Right One In. And join us for an optional visit to the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia on Wednesday, September 30 at 10:30 a.m. for a lecture on Stoker and a viewing of his original notes for the novel.
Course price is $100 for Rosenbach Museum & Library members, $125 for non-members. Registration is required; contact the Bryn Mawr Film Institute at (610) 527-4008 for more information.
ABOUT THE ROSENBACH
The Rosenbach Museum & Library seeks to inspire curiosity, inquiry, and creativity by engaging broad audiences in exhibitions, programs and research based on its remarkable and expanding collections. The museum was founded by legendary book dealer A.S.W. Rosenbach and his brother and business partner Philip. With an outstanding collection of rare books, manuscripts, furniture, and art, the Rosenbach is a museum and world-renowned research library, set within two historic 1865 townhouses, that reflects an age when great collectors lived among their treasures.
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To request photos, interviews and more information, please contact:
Canary Promotion + Design, ph: (215) 242-6393
Emaleigh Doley, emaleigh@canarypromo.com