A Comedic And Equally Heart-Wrenching Pilgrimage--"She Kills Monsters"

Rise up out of your dungeons all you once upon a time nerds and geeks of D and D. Rise up to unabashedly revel in your freedom and independence. Yes, rise up to celebrate your impact on "the social and intellectual structure of our world" with the Flowertown Players presentation of Qui Nguyen's comedic and equally heart-wrenching pilgrimage into the part real and part imaginary She Kills Monsters now showing at the James F. Dean Theatre. Hey, girls can be nerds as well as super heroes.

Qui Nguyen is a playwright, TV writer, pop-culture nerd, and a professed geek presently working for Marvel Studios. He is the Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys of New York City. He is known for his innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia. Branded as a break-the-rules writer, Nguyen produced the script for She Kills Monsters in 2011.

Set in 1995, Agnes Evans was making preparations to leave her childhood home in Ohio. Her parents and only sister were killed in an automobile accident. While packing her sister's belongings, she came across a notebook containing a Dungeons and Dragons quest written by Tilly. It was a world unfamiliar to Agnes.

While growing up, Agnes had nothing in common with her nerdy little sister--their dissimilar interests took them on different paths. As a result, she was now painfully confronted with the realization she knew nothing about Tilly, leaving a distressing void in her heart and a aching need to fill it. With hopes of filling the regrettable void, she seeks out and finds a "big where it counts" teenage Dungeon Master named Chuck to guide her through the D and D escapade. Together, they rolled the multi-sided dice to the discomfort of Agnes' insecure boyfriend.

Tilly comes to life onstage as "healer of the wounded and the protector of lights" Tillius the Paladin, an armor clad teenage heroine wielding a big sword. She is accompanied by a pointy eared she-elf named Kaliope and a bitchy warrior demon named Lilith. Needless to say, Agnes' initial introductions to Tilly's comrades in arms is contentious and bewildering as to why her sister would choose such companions, but she is driven by the need to understand. Agnes joins her sister's quest.

Along the way, the four of them hook up with a rude, cheese eating, TV watching demon lord named Orcus sporting horns and wearing brown, furry leggings. Set to rock music, they battled bugbears, a nasty winged fairy, an assortment of beasts, a gelatinous green cube, and blood-sucking demon vamps wearing cheerleader outfits by the name of Evil Tina and Evil Gabbi.

As Agnes moves between the real, her life as a teacher at the school attended by her sister, and the imaginary, the D and D quest, she discovers the companions and combatants of her sister's role playing fantasy have real life counterparts. The eye opening revelations are at times unsettling but also enlightening as she comes to know the geeky sister she avoided growing up.

I never had an interest in playing the game Dungeons and Dragons. I don't even recall being aware it was a board game that you played with dice. Adding to that, it was my first exposure to She Kills Monsters and its creator. So, when the play began, I was somewhat in a chilled fog. I didn't begin to warm up to the play until I became tuned into its unfolding poignant social message.

The plays successfully functional stage and props, dominated by misty laden greenish rock walls and accented by a changing array of colorful lights, set the necessary moods as the players fought and transitioned between the real and the imaginary. The wide variety of fanciful costumes skillfully designed and engineered by Nicole Harrison visually enhanced the fantasy and aided in the believability of the characters and their relevance within the story line. The numerous choreographed sword play and battle scenes set to the sounds of rock music were entertaining, but at times, a tad over dramatized.

Emma MacMillan was without a doubt emotionally committed to her character Tilly Evans and it showed at the end when the appreciative audience gave a standing ovation for a performance well done. Equally inspiring, Amanda Campeau as Agnes Evans was engaging, entertaining, and a pleasure to watch. Tilly's two cohorts, Kaliope and Lilith, were played by Jenny Aubrey and Michelle Jones. Lilith was by far the most intimidating of the quest characters both in dress and persona and Michelle projected that well, while Jenny projected Kaliope's softer side of female super power with grace.

As personalities go, Erik Brower was the perfect choice for the cheese consuming, testosterone driven, hairy-legged Orcus. Margaret Nyland superbly handled the plays narrative and as the in-your-face, cruelly honest Vera, audaciously charming. Ethan Goodman fit the bill as the perplexed Miles and cracked me up as he strutted around the stage as the gelatinous green cube. Zach Rettig was the paradigm of a Dungeon Master and Robert Venne played Steve, who appeared from time to time for no apparent reason. As for Evil Tina (Rebecca Sims) and Evil Gabbi (Minna Schubert), they were just plain evil.

Director Josh Bates and Crew get a thumbs up well done venture.

She Kills Monsters is a D and D themed play filled with comedic one liners and jaw dropping references wrapped up in a slice of cheese served on a silver platter of love, loss, regrets, acceptance and closure. I leave you with this warning: if you tend towards the emotional, you just may shed a tear after all is said in done.

Get your tickets for She Kills Monsters now showing through February 4th.