LEWISTON – Nathan White opened with a nice, rich, evil cackle.

“Your pathetic quest for vengeance will end now!”

His voice boomed. More cackling.

The 20-year-old from Lewiston was one of the early stars at vampire tryouts.

“Fantastic,” said filmmaker/director Seth Roberts, sitting behind a cafeteria table, taking notes on each actor with his mother, brother and a handful of others. “Very good.”

More than 30 people turned out Wednesday to an open casting call for “Dark Vengeance: Banishment,” a movie Roberts hopes to film and produce exclusively in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

The film centers around an evil Egyptian overlord named Amun – the part White was reading – and Amira, a young Iraqi woman whom Amun turned into a vampire after murdering her family. Their feud brings them to Lewiston looking for hidden treasure and dimension-leaping gateways.

Roberts, a student at Andover College, had to encourage many of the actors to speak up over the noise of the playground behind the Multi-Purpose Center and the whirring indoor fans.

Bryanna McLaughlin, the only person cast so far, read the part of Amira during each audition. She was nervous, even though she had her role already.

“I’m glad I’m not trying out,” she said between scenes. “I definitely see people here that I can act off, that helps. Definitely see some potential.”

White said he’d been acting for eight years.

“I watch a lot of horror movies – I guess (the cackle) apparently comes from that,” he said. White said he’s finishing an independent film being shot in Sanford and plans to leave for college in the fall to study acting. Why not fit one more film in before he leaves?

“I actually like playing evil characters,” White said.

Everyone who showed up – there were more men than women, of all ages – filled out a quick application and received a two-page script with character description. They got a few minutes to study lines.

Seventeen-year-old Tegan Lake from Auburn went first. She read for the role of Beccah.

“Freeze, FBI!”

McLaughlin hissed back at her.

She admitted after that she was pretty nervous, too. “When I read it, I really loved the role,” Lake said.

Douglas Papa, 37, from Lewiston, said he’d been in two movies already. In the one still in post-production, he’s a drug dealer who dies from a hook in the throat.

“I’ve never done a vampire movie before, and I know independent film is always looking for extras,” he said.

Cari Deschenes, 19, of Leeds sat with judges. She’d already been named special effects makeup artist for the film after impressing Roberts by fabricating a third-degree burn, bullet hole and corpse-look.

“I make them look disgusting,” she said with relish. “Why make people look pretty when you can make them look ugly?”

Several finalists for each part will be called back for another reading. Roberts hopes to film this summer.