NOTE: ALL DONATIONS ARE NOW TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!!
A $20 DONATION GETS YOU A TICKET!!
And you can say, rightly so, that you had something to do with breathing life (and, dare we say, blood) into The Blood Countess!
OUR STORY
Company Background
DangerHouse Productions is an upstart theatre company in San Diego, California that specializes in plays that scare people. Sharing a belief in theatre with the Grand Guignol, the French theatre movement that invented theatrical realism, DangerHouse asks its audiences to look inside themselves to see what scares them. And what's scarier than fear and sex? The DangerHouse team uses "Danger Names" (Domino, Death, Daphne, Darning, d'Artagnan and Dee) that allow them to stretch the boundaries of theatre and still live within the boundaries of polite society. This anonymity is something that audiences, critics and the artists themselves rely on to bring fresh challenges to San Diego audiences.
This Project
For 2012, the Danger Ds thought it would be suitably scary to commission their first original play.
Enter playwright Kevin Six who was looking for a way to finish his play about notorious vampire Elizabeth Bathory. Kevin, his characters and the Danger Team think that Bathory deserves more of the credit for the vampire genre than Dracula (though it's a great D name, you have to admit). In The Blood Countess, three young women travel to modern day Transylvania to bring the name and exploits of Bathory to the world. Then all Hell breaks loose and these American girls find out that vampires are bad. Really bad. Bathory's notorious quest for the fountain of youth led her turned her into a woman not unlike themselves.
THE IMPACT
The Blood Countess will scare people surely. They will look inside themselves and see what qualities of the vampire that seeks youth and beauty at all costs they share with her. And, because the play opens on Valentine's Day, there will be chocolate wine and dancing. The play not only challenges actors and audiences members to confront that side of themselves the normally wouldn't, but it presents a daunting feat for the production crew. It features live and recorded video; a live DJ who spins Goth music mixed with popular songs based on what's happening on stage; video screens; a power point presentation on the historical and geopolitical significance of the three-country region known as Transylvania; a statue that comes to life; a bathtub full of blood and seven actors who fight, die, bleed and have sex alternately on stage and on video. And six lucky audience members who will be bound and gagged on stage and, through the magic of theatre "bleed" into the tub that Elizabeth Bathory – The Blood Countess – commandeers while she compels the play's characters to tell her story.
WHAT WE NEED & WHAT YOU GET
DangerHouse Productions is willing to give away some crazy things to the people brave enough to underwrite the costs of producing The Blood Countess. We're breaking down donation levels to give our donors really cool incentives for providing the lifeblood to this production from tickets to the show to seats onstage (yes, bound and gagged!) to your own Danger Name. We need funds to cover:
- the cost of the venue
- set construction and props
- video filming and rigging
- actor's stipends
- publicity and printing
See the levels, chose your level of support and take our gratitude to the grave – and beyond! ANY amount you can give is much appreciated!
Best of all, ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE through our fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas (DangerHouse is officially a California non-profit, but are still finalizing the paperwork). It's completely automated and you won't have to worry about a thing. Full a detailed budget and other questions, don't hesitate to contact us!
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
DIWO! You know we can't do it without money but, if you don't have a ton of it lying around, you might still be able to help. We're looking for people to run concessions and take tickets – dressed as escaped prisoners from Elizabeth Bathory's dungeons. We could always use people to hand out flyers or bring them to the places our audience members are likely to frequent.
Thanks!
