Actors portray characters of newest Twilight Saga book series at Grass Roots

Vampires may be the celebrity guests of the evening tonight, but at Grass Roots Books & Music, you won’t see any fangs, black capes or coffins. The vampires in Stephenie Meyer’s beloved Twilight Saga series aren’t your run-of-the-mill Nosferatus, as the fans of the young adult series are eager to tell you.

The fourth book in the popular series, “Breaking Dawn,” is available at 12 a.m. Saturday, and Grass Roots is hosting a Twilight party starting at 10 p.m. tonight, featuring games, snacks and local actors portraying characters from the series. And when the clock strikes 12, all secrets will be revealed as latest details in the lives of Bella, Edward and Jacob are gobbled up by fans.

For those unfamiliar with the hottest thing since Harry Potter, the series follows ordinary teenager Bella, whose life takes an unexpected turn when she falls for classmate, Edward, and it turns out he’s a vampire.

Like so many vampire tales, their love is forbidden, mainly because of Edward’s blood lust. But what makes the Twilight Saga interesting, some fans say, is that the vampires don’t follow traditional rules. They don’t have fangs, they can go out in the sunlight, they can’t be killed by stakes through the heart and, in this particular vampire clan, they don’t kill humans, referring to themselves as “vegetarians.”

Members of local community theater group, the AAA Theatre Troup, will be playing the parts of characters in the series. All of the actors have read at least part of the series and gathered at Grass Roots on Wednesday to talk about their experiences with the book.

“I read the first one on a camping trip,” 21-year-old Paul Hommes said. “It was very well written, very vivid and compelling. It was a different twist on a vampire story.”

Paul found the books too mushy for his taste but Natalie Sullivan, who is going to portray Bella during the party, learned to love the series after her sister introduced her to them.

“It really does a good job of showing a teen girl’s view of the world,” Natalie said. “(Bella) is a really normal girl.”

Fans of the series will want to hang out with Natalie this evening, not only because she’ll be playing Bella but because she might have a little inside scoop. She was lucky enough to be cast as an extra in the film version of the first book, “Twilight,” which is scheduled to premiere during the holiday season this winter. She can likely be spotted in some of the school scenes and during the pivotal prom scene.

Another community actor, Logan Welch, was too busy teaching acting classes and working on Oregon State University’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” to attend the interview, but he’ll be at the party tonight. Logan had the enviable task of being the stand-in on the “Twilight” film for hero Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson), and his hands actually appear in the film — including in a scene where Edward breaks a desk. It’s as close as many fans will get to meeting the real Edward.

Maria Hommes only became interested in the series after her friends convinced her to give it a try.

“I was really surprised by it,” she said. Not a fan of vampires, she didn’t expect to be captured by the series. “It was gripping. I didn’t do any studying (when the books came out).”

Phillip Hommes said the books are better than he expected, but still not his type of series, perhaps because Meyer’s fan base primarily is female.

Claire Meints, who will be playing the vain Rosalie, said that Twilight, the first book, remains among her favorite novels. Since she began reading them, she’s taken a trip to coastal Washington to visit Forks, where the book is set, as well as Port Angeles and the beach where Edward and Bella have a moment together.

“I can imagine where they are,” from being in the places where the books are set, she said.

If you go

Grass Roots Books & Music is located at 227 S.W. Second St., Corvallis.

Borders Books & Music is hosting its own Twilight party at 9:30 tonight, at 777 N.W. Ninth St.