Brant Theatre Workshop's production of "Dracula -- A Love Story" will come alive next month in the perfect venue for a play about a vampire -- a "medieval" castle constructed at the turn of the century.

The rise in the popularity of vampires causes one to categorize the type of vampires that we choose to watch. The first category is the fanged vampire. This is the vampire of the past that is a true monster. They have an animalistic need to satiate a hunger that goes beyond human control.

The last two decades have brought about a welcoming of vampires in society. Long gone are the days of children cowering in the dark from fear of the vampire. The 1970’s opened the door to change that not only affected the image of the vampire but how we accepted them into our lives.

I suppose if a distant relative of mine was famous, I'd do my part to make money off his likeness let fans buy stuff with his image on it -- officially. Look to your local celebrity pop-culture store for soon-to-be-released stuff with Bram Stoker and Dracula (?) plastered all over it.

Dracula's castle -- actually Hunedoara Castle, where the father of Vlad III (also known as the Vlad The Impaler) was imprisoned for seven years -- opened to the public on June 1st. It is located in Transylvania, Romania and is under the management of Princess Ileana of Romania and her family.