MANSFIELD — John Moser has made Mansfield Playhouse audiences laugh for more than two decades.
As he prepares to enter into a new chapter of his professional life, Moser is ready for his final turn on the Third Street community theater stage, joining a five-member cast for “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors” opening Friday night.
Generating laughs is one thing.
But the Ashland University history professor, who has accepted a similar position in 2026 with the University of Tennessee, said he will remember more how the Mansfield Playhouse made him feel each time he came to the historic theater.
“At the end of a day that hasn’t gone so great, I could come here and I just feel good,” said Moser, also the chair of AU’s History and Political Science Department.
“This place feels like feels like home … and the people that I’ve had the honor to work with … people like Steve Russell and Beau Roberts and Josh Carpenter … I have done multiple shows with these people and they have been friends ever since I started here,” Moser said.
“Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors”
Cast:
Michael McQuillen — Dracula
Drew Anderson — Mina and Van Helsing
Leanna Uselton — Lucy and Kitty
John Moser — Dr. Westfield and Renfield
Josh Carpenter — Jonathan Harker, Bosun and suitors
Show Dates: Oct. 17, 18, 24 & 25 at 8 pm and Oct. 26 at 2:30 pm
Tickets: Adult $15, Senior $13, Student $10
To purchase tickets, visit https://www.mansfieldplayhouse.com. You can also call the box office at 419-522-2883 Wednesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to all performances.
Moser, who can also be seen frequently on The History Channel’s documentary series “History’s Greatest Mysteries,” also praised the efforts of Doug and Tammy Wertz.
Doug Wertz, the theater’s artistic director, is the theater’s only full-time employee. His wife, Tammy, is the business manager, a part-time role that often occupies full-time hours.
“The commitment that Doug and Tammy have toward this institution and the love they have for the place and for what goes on here is really something that’s meant a great deal to me,” he said.
(Below are photos from Monday night’s dress rehearsal of “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors” at the Mansfield Playhouse. The story continues below the photos.)
Based on characters largely found in Bram Stoker’s novel, published in 1897, the play was penned by Gordon Greenberg and Steven Rosen 126 years later.
It’s described as a “Bram-new comedy you can really sink your teeth into. Filled with clever wordplay and anything-goes pop culture references, it’s a 90-minute, gender-bending, quick-changing, laugh-out-loud reimagining of the gothic classic, perfect for audiences of all blood types.”
Picture Monty Python-style humor married to Mel Brooks’ parody play, “The 39 Steps” and you have an idea of what to expect in “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors.”
A “scary comedy” appealed to Moser, especially one that offered him the ability to stretch his chops across multiple roles as he does in performing as Dr. Westfield and Renfield.
“I can be an arrogant pigheaded Englishman, not an aristocrat, but the Victorian Englishman. And the other part (Renfield), I get to be crazy,” he said.
“Both of them are fun and both appeal to different aspects of my personality,” said Moser, seen most recently on the Mansfield Playhouse stage in April 2024 in the aforementioned “39 Steps.”
Wertz, who leads the theater celebrating its 100th year in Mansfield, said Moser’s pending departure next year makes this show somewhat bittersweet.
“It’s always hard when (a friend) moves away. We’ve always had a lot of fun and have became good friends. This is his kind of comedy and he enjoys it and he brings the energy on stage. He is going to be missed when he moves,” Wertz said.
The student joins the professor
Recent Ashland University graduate Leanna Uselton, seen locally in June with the Mansfield Shakespeare Company’s “The Twelfth Night,” makes her Mansfield Playhouse debut.
She is is happy to be in the show with AU Professor Moser.
“I definitely love being on stage with John and having the energy from him throughout this process,” said Uselton, who handles multiple roles as Lucy and Kitty in the production.
“It was a dream of mine to be in a show with John, because I directed him in January in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ with the Ashbrook Classical Theatre Company After directing him, I really wanted to be in a show with him and it worked out,” said Uselton, whose AU degree is in creative writing with minors in theatre, music (voice), and political science.
Uselton, a poet who is also working on her own Gothic novel, said she loved Stoker’s original novel.
“This is a very loose adaptation,” she said with a laugh. “Some of the names are similar, but then there’s a lot of differences, as well.”
Though she has her college degree, Uselton said education never stops, especially on stage.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot just from everyone else involved. Everyone has different experiences, some newer actors and some actors who’ve been doing it for a while,” Uselton said.
“I feel like I’ve learned to let loose a little bit more with this. It’s definitely a different show than what I’m used to and a different role than what I’m used to, so it’s been nice,” she said.
Wertz smiles when asked about Uselton’s arrival at the Playhouse.
“She’s got great, great energy … volume, the accents. She’s been wonderful to work with, working her lines and memorizing and dedicating her time here.
“She even volunteered to help paint the set,” he said with a laugh.
‘You get to wear some cool teeth and the outfit is fantastic’
Count Dracula in Stoker’s world was dark and mysterious, the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction.
In “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors,” actor Michael McQuillen doffs his shirt and takes the stage while working out in black leather pants — a new-age, sensual vampire.
“It’s such a fun show. There’s so many spots in it that allow you to bring the physical comedy and accentuate the jokes. It’s a really great script,” said McQuillen, whose first appearance at the Mansfield Playhouse came on the Second Stage in May in the comedy “Squirrel Lake.”
Wertz said he is thrilled with McQuillen’s work in the role.
“I liked what I saw in ‘Squirrel Lake.’ Michael’s got a sense of humor,” the veteran director said. “He had a great audition, a very good read, and he brought some of the European accent that he’s able to provide for the character,” Wertz said.
“But I also felt like he would like to grow in what he’s doing and he has. I’m very, very happy with what he is doing,” the director said.
McQuillen said he enjoys the larger space afforded on the main stage.
“There’s a lot more room to work. The Second Stage was a lot of fun, but there’s a lot of times where you feel like you have to chop your steps up. Here, you’re taking leaps and bounds and you’re moving.
“I really like the energy that brings to it, the ability to move around the stage. It makes it so much more exciting to get into your character and just accentuate your lines and be able to move around. It’s a lot of fun,” he said.
“You also get to wear some really cool teeth and the outfit is fantastic,” he said with a laugh.
“(The costume) is not something that you’re going to catch me wearing at Taco Bell, but being able to step into a character that is wholly not what you are day-to-day, it’s a lot of fun.
“To bring on the overt sexuality of it is a lot of fun and just get out there and just just go with it and be extra … it’s been interesting,” McQuillen said.
Like Uselton, McQuillen said he is pleased to work with Moser and other more veteran performers.
“It’s so much fun to watch John work. He’s hilarious. He gets on stage, steps into these roles and he makes them so believable. It’s been great to be able to watch and emulate,” he said.
“They are all so much more experienced than I am. I just came into local theater this spring. It’s just the small things that they can tip you on. The way you’re delivering lines and the way you’re moving … watching them audition, everybody here on stage was outstanding.”
