VAMPING FOR ENGLISH BLOOD : DRACULA'S WIDOW FINDS NEW VICTIMS IN LONDON.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

A sensual Romanian baroness moves to the English countryside and shakes up the villagers, who soon realize a vampiress is in their midst in a play currently being staged at the Canyon Theatre Guild.

``Dracula's Widow'' opened Sept. 27 and will run every Friday and Saturday through Nov. 2 at the theater at 13660 W. Sierra Highway. Curtain times are 8 p.m. and there is a special Halloween performance at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 and a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Oct. 27.

Baroness Katarina leaves her native Romania, still reeling from the death of her beloved blood-sucking count, to settle in a hilltop castle outside London in playwright Billy St. John's story, set at the turn of the century.

``It's a sequel to Bram Stoker's classic vampire tale, with a similar storyline and some of the genders reversed,'' said Isaac Allan, a Valencia actor who plays the lead role of Jeremy Randolph. Irishman Stoker wrote ``Dracula'' in 1897.

``My character gets entangled in a bloody love triangle with Dracula's widow, who is a vampire,'' Allan said. ``I get bitten by her, so I become a vampire.''

The baroness drives a romantic wedge between Jeremy and his fiancee, Diana Grant, played by Rachael Ostrom.

``One of the things that appealed to me about the role is that, in the first act, I play a nice, proper British attorney who's happy and in love,'' Allan said.

``He's a little bit of a wimp - but I get to transform in the second act into a very dangerous, almost maniacal vampire,'' Allan said. ``There's a great range there. I get to do all this crazy growling and attacking and stalking,'' he said. ``I get to play some real extremes.''

Canyon Country resident Lori D'Itri dyed her reddish-brown hair black for her part as the enigmatic, alluring baroness who has the British men under her spell.

Katarina has left Transylvania because the Romanian blood supply is wanting. ``The blood is no good because there's no nutrients in the soil. Everybody's pale and thin-blooded and weak,'' D'Itri said. ``She moves because the English blood is the richest and the purest.''

According to legend and literature, a vampire lives on blood, sleeps in a coffin filled with his or her native soil, casts no shadow, recoils in sunlight, is kept at bay by a cross or garlic, and can be killed by pounding a wooden stake through his or her heart.

``In order for them to stay alive, they have to have fresh blood to stay young and beautiful,'' D'Itri said.

Old Bela Lugosi movies, as well as more recent vampire films starring Gary Oldman and Tom Cruise, were study aids in preparing for the title role. ``I really wanted to get into their mind, why they wanted to do this,'' D'Itri said. ``I need to look at everybody like they're a hunk of steak . . . like they're a rare piece of roast beef and I'm starving,'' she joked.

D'Itri even confessed to copying the accents of Boris and Natasha from the old ``The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' cartoons to work up a Romanian accent. But she had little personal experience to draw from in playing the undead.

As Katarina is amorous, Diana and Jeremy are rather prim in comparison.

``These two are terribly in love - they're just so head-over-heels, looking forward to getting married,'' Allan said.

``They're proper British folks. They kiss one another, but they're very chaste. The baroness comes in and cuts down those barriers,'' he said. ``She's ready to go after any fresh blood that attracts her fancy.''

Guilty as charged, D'Itri said. ``I guess (Katarina) doesn't have much time,'' she said. ``I need my blood and my men right away.''

For ticket information, call [phone]

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Lori D'Itri plays the Baroness Katarin a in ``Dracula's Widow,'' running until Nov. 2.

(2--Color) Rachael Ostrom plays Diana Grant and Isaac Allen is her fiancee, Jeremy Randolph.