Aaron Kopec: The man behind Alchemist Theatre

Self-taught impresario, scenic artist, director, and entrepreneur Aaron Kopec opened the Alchemist Theatre in 2007, seeing a need for small spaces where young, up-and-coming thespians could perform. Since then, the intimate Bay View venue has played host to comedy groups, experimental theater companies, film screenings, concerts, and drag shows, as well as in-house productions. Kopec's technical wizardry has transformed the tiny theater into a Victorian London street, a realistic ’60s suburban bungalow, and a decrepit alien spacecraft. Now, for Dracula: The Undead, which opens Thursday and runs through Nov. 7, he's creating a Transylvanian forest in which Gypsies perform a gruesome ritual for tourists, re-enacting the story of the hellish creature they worship and fear. The A.V. Club talked about the show and Alchemist Theatre with Kopec.

The A.V. Club: Dale Gutzman originally wrote this script for a production in Thailand, which you worked on. Why did you decide to stage the play here?

Aaron Kopec: Well, Dracula was the first show I'd ever seen, as a kid, and I remember being fascinated seeing adults on edge and feeling maybe that guy on stage was a really a vampire, and they got him for the show somehow. I think Dale reached for more than I wanted to; a little heavy-handed, maybe, with religion and sexuality. I just wanted to streamline it and have more fun with it. Also there were a lot of effects and sound things that I wanted to do, so I rewrote quite a bit of it, keeping the flavor of Dale's story.

AVC: What kind of experience do you want your audience to have?

AK: Ultimately, it’s a two-hour haunted house ride. [Laughs.] It does have blood, it has some really sexy moments, it has some really frightening moments, and we have some great comedians in the show as well, so in between those moments of sex, blood and horror, there are some great moments of levity that happen sometimes when you least expect it. It's all the fun of a haunted house without having to wait in line for three hours to get into it.

AVC: Your shows are always amazing to look at. What are the effects in this show?

AK: You're at the ruins of Castle Dracula, so there's ruins and there's branches. Just to make it more rustic we're removing all the plush covers of our theater seats, so it will look as though the theater itself is outdoors—which is risky, because people coming for the first time will think the place is a craphole. [Laughs.]

AVC: You've been doing theater here for two years, keeping your own space going. Has anything made you say, "Wow, I didn't expect that?”

AK: Mostly by how many different groups have worked out of here and cooperate to make things happen. Youngblood will be here next year, which is very cool. The number of calls and people wanting to put on their own productions is outstanding. There are certain days when you walk through here and there's people working on things in every possible place. There's some kind of acting class going on in the basement, people painting out on the back courtyard, people having a script reading in the lounge, rehearsal in the main theater. That's exciting to me and I didn't expect that to happen.

AVC: And you're totally for profit. You don't get grants.

AK: That's one thing that will perhaps be our downfall, but yeah. We pay our taxes, we don't take handouts, we do everything the way we want to do it—which is not always the best way—but we're stubborn. All the money we make pretty much goes to the art and the artists, including drink sales out in the bar. So when you come to see a show, have a cheap drink and you're supporting local art.