Dracula is an adaptation, first published in 1996, by American playwright Steven Dietz of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel by the same name. Though it has never run on Broadway, the author lists it among his most financially successful works, and it is frequently performed near Halloween in regional and community theaters. Closely following the plot of the novel, the play chronicles Count Dracula's journey to England, his stalking of two young women, and his pursuit and eventual defeat by the heroines' suitors and their associates.

While all of Stoker's major plot points are present in Dietz's adaptation, they are not presented in the same order. While the novel presents its various journal entries and letters in roughly chronological order, Jonathan Harker's initial trip to Transylvania and his stay in Dracula's castle are presented as flashbacks in the play.

Dietz' version is not campy, though the character Renfield is used to provide some comic relief. Dietz emulates Stoker's use of language, and incorporates fragments of Stoker's original dialog, both in and out of its original context.

The only major characters not appearing on-stage are two of Lucy Westenra's three suitors, Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood. Both are mentioned in dialog between Lucy and Mina, however, and the remaining suitor, Dr. John Seward, sometimes serves as a composite character of three.

The first section of the play follows Lucy Westenra's search for love while she listens to her best friend, Mina Murray, describe her passion for her fiancé, Jonathan Harker. Lucy eventually falls for a psychologist named Dr. John Seward. Seward has an obsession with two things: finding love and unlocking the mind of a madman. His focus during the attempts of the latter is on a man featuring symptoms of psychosis named Renfield. During Seward and Lucy's romantic choices and life pursuits, Mina corresponds with her own lover, who has gone on a business trip selling land to a Count Dracula in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania. They exchange letters for some time, until eventually Harker's letters quit coming.

Shortly after this, Mina notices that her friend, Lucy, begins sleepwalking and acting very ill. Knowing that he has medical training, Mina sends for Dr. Seward to come and diagnose Lucy's sickness. Seward is unable to see what might be ailing Lucy, but notices what appears to be a blood mark from a kiss on her neck. Disturbed, he sends for his old professor, Abraham Van Helsing, who teaches philosophy and researches unexplainable and supernatural illnesses. At first, Van Helsing is hesitant to come, but Seward reminds him that he once saved his life. Van Helsing arrives and recognizes the marks on Lucy's neck as Vampire bites, but keeps the information to himself, not thinking the group will believe in Vampires. Van Helsing gives Lucy a blood-transfusion in order to keep the Vampiric attributes within her from taking over.

While Lucy is recovering from serious diarrhea, Harker returns home, and is seemingly insane after an unknown experience in the Carpathian Mountains. Harker is held inside Seward's asylum until he can retain some of his sanity. Mina finds her fiancé's journal after he is taken away. She and Van Helsing read it together... it reveals Harker's experience with the Count Dracula, who has attempted to steal Harker's identity and is either headed to or already in London (where the group lives). Act I of the play ends with intersecting lines from present time and flashbacks to Transylvania between Van Helsing, Renfield, Mina, Harker, and Dracula - the last of whom declares the final line, "I am bound for England!", foreshadowing his menacing journey.

Seward returns to go visit Lucy, where she attempts to seduce him (allowing her Vampiric side to take over). He closes his eyes for a kiss, during which Lucy planned to drain him of blood, but Van Helsing enters the room, using a crucifix to "kill" her. In an attempt to explain why he had attacked Lucy, Van Helsing must expose his theory of Vampirism as a disease taking over Lucy's body. This disease would have had to have been spread to her by another Vampire, probably one with a permanent form of the affliction.