People remember that Orson Welles and company panicked unsuspecting listeners in October 1938 with a radio vérité treatment of The War of the Worlds. Yet Mercury Theatre on the Air actually debuted in July of that year with a hot-blooded treatment of Dracula that probably stunned a few ears, too. There was no drooling, bug-eating Renfield, but the hypnotic Count (played by guess who) seduced a woozy, willing, audibly horny Mina to a repeated messianic refrain of “flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood.” Tonight, Seattle Radio Theatre recreates Welles’ often maleficent magic live on stage for Halloween with music, sound effects, and a cast including venerable Seattle comedian and Almost Live! alum Pat Cashman. Whether or not they’re going for laughs, chills, nostalgia, or some sweet, trick-and-treaty confection of all of the above remains to be heard…er, seen. A few chuckles will be unavoidable and were probably intended by a snickering, wicked Welles, anyway. What else to make of the moment when Mina’s true love Harker, pondering the lusty vampire, remarks, “I don’t understand these things. I only know he is a man with hair in the palm of his hands”? STEVE WIECKING

Fri., Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., 2010