By Kayla Hoang
You watch as the dungeon master rolls the the eight-sided die and ultimately sends you to your away to meet your fate and onto a perilous adventure full of fairies, succubi, bugbears… and a green gelatinous blob? At least, that holds to be true in FVHS’s wonderfully-executed adaptation of “She Kills Monsters”, originally written by playwright Qui Nguyen.
The play serves as a new take on the classic role-playing fantasy board game, Dungeon and Dragons (DnD). Although only an hour and a half, it manages to pull a lot off in that time, shifting the audience away from the plain and ordinary and delves them into a deep, fantastical abyss of both magic and realism.
This is the case we see in the setting of small-town Ohio, with our main character, senior Agnes (played by sophomore McKenzieMartell), a popular and so-called ‘average’ cheerleader. She’s never been particularly close with her peculiar, ‘geeky’, DnD-obsessed younger sister, Tilly (played by freshman Katie Bell), who tragically dies in a car crash. Traumatized by her sudden loss and determined to find the connection with her sister she never received while Tilly was alive, Agnes reaches out to another DnD-obsessed Ohio resident and Dungeon Master, Chuck (senior Ben Nelson), who utilizes Tilly’s worn-out leather notebook as a guide for Agnes to become a part of her sister’s quest and integrate herself into this world of role-playing fantasy.
We meet other colorful characters, too, all crucial members of Agnes and Tilleus’s (Tilly’s alter-ego in her DnD fantasies) quest, including Lilith (played by junior Iva Erwin), the group’s personal femme fatale, Kaliope (played by sophomore Megan Scott), the fierce elf warrior and Orcus (played by senior Riley Jarvis), the goofy demon-slash-comedic relief. The play expertly jumps between real-life and fantasy, portraying Agnes’s struggle as she starts to connect the pieces that link her sister’s role-playing adventure as less of a fairy tale and more of a metaphor for Tilly’s own personal life trials.
The actors are the perfect fit for their characters they play. Martell skillfully characterizes the awkwardness and pure confusion Agnes feels with all the craziness around her, as well as her determination to develop closure with her sister. Her character pairs well with Bell’s portrayal of the intense and headstrong Tilly/Tilleus as she perseveres through the DnD quest.
Nelson makes a hilarious Dungeon Master, too, with an over-inflated ego and obsession with all things pop culture. The performances and dialogue are brilliantly executed between the actors, especially with the scattered snipes of dark, or rather, adult jokes that leaves audiences of all ages laughing.
The play reveals much more about our characters than most would expect from a dark comedy about Dungeons and Dragons. “She Kills Monsters” explores topics including the LGBT community, self-discovery, and other serious matters in a skillful way that manages to balance itself between coming-of-age and humor that keeps the audience raptured no matter what’s happening.
A lot of the fun also stems from the production design, notably the giant oragami dragon heads that bring to life-size scale the essence of the role-playing board game, and the props that add onto the 90s nostalgia, even for those who didn’t live through the time period. The battle scenes were well-choreographed, and the makeup and costumes are an interesting combination between fantasy and real-life.
It’s comedy and fantasy and coming-of-age jam-packed into the box of a role-playing board game and, quite literally, wrapped up by a metaphor that signifies both an end and beginning to our hero’s journey. For a high school production, the cast and crew of “She Kills Monsters” produced a performance of outstanding quality that brings everyone involved into an extraordinary journey truly for the geek inside of us all.
