Stage Notes: The Little One

Can we have too many vampires?  Nosedive Productions doesn't think so.  The Little One is their 10th anniversary production, written by James Comtois (give it a French pronunciation, like "calm-twa") and directed by Pete Boisvert, who are also Nosedive's co-founders.  The nine-person cast is comprised of many of the same actors who appeared in the Brick Theater hit, Craven Monkeys and the Mountain of Fury.  The fight choreography is by Oui Nguyen, one of the marvelous creators of The Vampire Cowboys.  I spoke with the playwright.
 
Hi James.  I understand this is not camp.
It's a straight up vampire story, where the vampires don't sparkle and they don't swoon over teenage girls.  The main thrust of the story is that it's about a young woman who has turned into a vampire, Cynthia.  And she's taken under the wing of an older vampire, Marie.  And Marie is trying to train and teach Cynthia how to adapt and survive in her new, immortal life, going from human to vampire.
 
OK, that sounds good.
The bulk of the play deals with the vampires.  The humans are tangential to the story.  The focus of the story is from the vampire's point of view.  The humans are seen as food for these vampires.  Without giving too much away, there's a reason the vampires don't interact with the humans. 
 
Alright.  So what happens?
You meet different vampires that have different philosophies on how to deal with humans.  Since basically humans are for food, you have different approaches.  A lot of the characters are the traditional, horrific; what you expect from horror films.  They torment humans, they are brutal and cruel to them.
 
You're going for realism here?
Marie, however, is a vampire who see things in a more merciful way, a mercy kill.  You kill them quickly, you don't taunt them.  You don't play with your food.  If you were a meat-eater, you wouldn't go down to the corral and insult the cows.
 
No, I guess not.  I'm a vegetarian actually.
Marie is trying to instill these values in her ward, her fledgling, Cynthia.  But Cynthia is a young and rebellious vampire.  She is in her early 20s, and most vampires are centuries old.  She's a baby.  She does things against Marie's advice all the time.  A lot of the play centers around their relationship.  It's maternal, sisterly, friendly, but they are also very much at odds with each other.
 
Tell me about some of the other characters.
Many actors play multiple roles.  There are a couple other characters, like the governor of the vampires, Gogol.   He has a very long, sordid past with Marie and that affects Marie's relation with Cynthia, and Cynthia's relation with Gogol.  Another character is a nihilistic, cynical vampire, Sergei, a Russian vampire.  You don't know what to make of him.  His goals become more clear as the story unfolds.  Cynthia meets him through her travels.  She goes through a learning process.  It's a two-act play.
 
Anything more you'd like to tell me?
Even though it's a work about vampires, and this is a popular genre, it's a different angle than  Twilight.  It's not a romance, it's in the horror drama mode.  It's more of a fascinating character story.  There are lots of thrills and fight scenes.  It's not camp but there are some funny parts.
 
So there will be killing and eating of humans?
 Absolutely!  Because it's the point of view of the vampires, you find these characters sympathetic and interesting.  But, if you met any of these characters on the street you would run screaming in terror for your life.
 
I like to be scared in a play.  It's hard to do.
It is. There are elements from traditional horror here.  We've done a couple plays in the horror zone.  It's a challenge, but it's a fun one.  I'm really jazzed about getting this story up.
 
The Kraine, 85 E. 4th St., (212) 352-31010. Previews June 17 and 18, opens June 19-July 10. Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 p.m. $18.