Posted by on Oct 14, 2026

Review: The Vampire of Lafayette | Buntport Theater | Denver, CO | Curtain Up | Gina Robertson

If a vampire really lived in Lafayette, Colorado, there are a few things we’d know about him. One, he was a coal miner; two, he’s from Transylvania; and three, he drinks cherry limeades from Sonic every night because the combination of Sonic ice and high fructose corn syrup is refreshing AF. Who needs blood?

So the folklore surrounding this real grave in the real town of Lafayette is that an immigrant miner from Transylvania, possibly a vampire, died in 1918 and was buried with a stake through his heart, which sprouted into a tree that grew up out of his grave. Buntport Theater, in their latest zany character-driven comedy, has embellished the story even further to include a disgruntled vampire wife, Liliana, who shares the grave with him and a giant earthworm who keeps him company while Liliana makes her nightly Sonic run. He is held in place, you see, by the wooden stake-turned tree that has imprisoned him in his coffin. The setting is rounded out with the addition of an amateur folklorist and vampirologist who works as an assistant manager at Sonic and is based on a real person who studied the vampire lore.

Erik Edborg; Photo Credit: Gail Bransteitter

In its characteristic, inimitable way, Buntport has woven a crazy story out of a few odd characters and details and presented it on stage for our delight and amusement. Brian “Byron” Colonna is Doug, the roller-skating Sonic carhop who gets to know Liliana (Erin Rollman) as she returns to the drive-up speaker every night for two cherry limeades. Colonna’s performance is whimsical and fun. He falls in love with the vampire and begins showing off for her in the way that confident, nerdy men do. Rollman “vamps” around effectively on stage and conveys how very much, extremely over it she feels about her marriage and bondage to her vampire master Teodor (Erik Edborg). The two have learned to communicate especially well by hissing at one another in their extreme exasperation.

Edborg is cartoonishly dumb as Teodor. Being stuck in his coffin, he entertains himself with silly miner songs and talks to his new friend, an earthworm (played by Hannah Duggan). The two of them develop an interesting repartee about what earthworms don’t eat and what Teodor should do about his wife’s increasing refusal to bring his drinks back to him with enough ice as he commands. Duggan’s worm has a clever sense of irony as she explains, for example, that worms may have ten hearts or none, or that some people can’t tell the difference between a worm’s head and its butt.

The set effectively shifts from grave-beneath-the ground to graveyard above ground with headstone, to Sonic drive-up speaker where Liliana has begun to spend more of her time.

Erin Rollman and Brian Colonna; Photo Credit: Gail Bransteitter

The slow motion climax is chaotic and funny. This scene and all of the action is crisp and well-timed, with credit to SamAnTha Schmitz off stage. Gary Culig is the voice of Kyle, which comes through the Sonic speaker. Come see a unique take on a little bit of real Colorado history at The Vampire of Lafayette through October 25.

For Information and Tickets: https://buntport.com/2026/08/the-vampire-of-lafayette/