Hamilton may lack Transylvania’s eerie stone castles, torch-bearing peasant mobs and legendary vampires seeking to feast on human blood. But it does have a resident vampire slayer.

Hamilton actor Richard McElvain will be playing vampire slayer Van Helsing this Halloween season in the Stoneham Theatre’s new adaptation of "Dracula."

McElvain, who performed in plays in high school and college, says he has always enjoyed being on stage. However, because it is notoriously difficult to make a living as an actor, he had some concerns about choosing drama for his profession.

Fortunately he decided to "at least try."

He studied directing at Boston University’s graduate theater program and went on to cultivate a wide-ranging career encompassing all aspects of acting.

McElvain is a quintuple threat. He acts, directs, writes his own plays, translates the works of others and teaches. He speaks with reverence and passion about the classic dramatists who have inspired him. He has translated four of Moliere’s comedies, which have been produced in Boston, and describes the writer as "as good as it gets."

McElvain says, "Shakespeare is another influence." And he feels "very close to Tolstoy." He particularly enjoyed playing Malvolio in "Twelfth Night" at the New Repertory Theatre.

Another performance that was especially meaningful for McElvain was his participation in Jon Lipsky’s retelling of the epic poem, the "Illiad." McElvain acted multiple roles in "Living in Exile" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at several Boston locations.

McElvain is a professor Fitchburg State College, where he teaches in the theater program. He is getting ready to direct his students in Tennessee Williams’ "Summer and Smoke."

McElvain says he doesn’t find it difficult to switch from being a director to being an actor.

"I try to avoid being meddlesome," he says, chuckling.

Instead he luxuriates in the pleasure of "pursuing an individual role." McElvain has found joy and satisfaction in a career that allows him to approach the theater from diverse perspectives and he is grateful for "a very rich life."