October 22, 2009...

South Carolina Educational Television will air a behind-the-scenes documentary about Trident Technical College’s theatrical production of “Dracula: Forbidden Fruit” as part of its Halloween line up. The half-hour program will air at 10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Radio, Television and Film instructors Randy Grimes and Angelique Gibson produced and directed the documentary as part of a television production class in 2008. Students in the class shot 90 percent of the video used in the documentary. Grimes, Gibson and a team of students worked for more than a year to complete the project. TTC alumni Shawn Kraisman, who was a student in the class at the time, hosts the program.

“Dracula: Forbidden Fruit” is a play written by TTC theater instructor Dr. Sharon Willis. The play features the beloved characters and storyline of Bram Stoker’s classic novel, but with a new perspective and twist. Willis directed the play when it was presented at TTC in March 2008 as a fundraiser for the Charleston Clemente Project. The Charleston Clemente Project is housed at TTC and offers free college-level humanities courses to disadvantaged people in the Charleston area in the hope that a study of classical literature, philosophy, art, and history can offer a way out of poverty through intellectual freedom. In the documentary, Clemente course participants talk about how the classes have changed their lives and their outlooks. The play was performed by Clemente course participants, TTC faculty, staff and students, and community members.