By: Karli Wallace/ Executive Theme Editor, Kimi Danaei/ Theme editor, Natalee Park/Illustrator, Drew Rohm/ Photo Editor
The Mira Costa High School Drama/Tech Department presented its annual fall play, “She Kills Monsters,” in the small theater on Nov. 8-9 and will show it again tonight and tomorrow.
“She Kills Monsters” was written originally by playwright Qui Nguyen in 2011 and made its Broadway debut that same year. The play, set in the mid-’90s, follows high school senior Agnes Evans as she copes with the death of her estranged sister Tilly. The play transitions from the fictional world of Dungeons and Dragons in a game that Tilly created to the non-fictional world of high school, giving many of the characters’ game counterparts that correspond to their real life selves. According to Drama director Jonathan Westerberg, plays are chosen for the purpose of exposing students to a variety of pieces, giving both students in the program and the audience a contrast from the previous plays.
“We aim over the course of the students’ four years in the Drama Department to try to expose them to different genres, different eras, different playwrights and different performance styles,” Westerberg said. “That’s one of the central reasons we went from super serious non-fiction [with “The Laramie Project” last year] to high-action and comedic fiction this year; it gives us a completely different genre and style to play with.”
The cast and crew have prepared for this play over an eight-week-long period. According to Westerberg, the cast spent this time understanding the plot and characters while the crew worked on constructing the backdrop and props.
“A lot of our preparation has been drilling down on the narrative and understanding the characters,” Westerberg said. “The first five weeks we worked on staging and getting the blocking down, and then started to do the fine strokes on both ends, cast and crew.”
The protagonist, high school cheerleader Agnes Evans, is played by senior Caroline Lesser. In Agnes’ journey to finding closure after her younger sister’s death, she discovers the realm of Dungeons and Dragons in order to understand and connect with Tilly’s love of the game. According to Lesser, playing Agnes has been challenging because of how emotionally similar she is to her character.
“Agnes and I have a lot of similarities in our character, and because we are so similar, sometimes it is hard to distinguish when I am playing a role versus when I am playing myself,” Lesser said. “Because she is so close to me, I tied a lot of emotional material from my life to try and trigger her emotional responses.”
Tilly Evans is played by sophomore Kate Bacon. Tilly Evans is a teenage girl who is known for her obsession with Dungeons and Dragons. According to Westerberg, the character of Tilly is a representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the early ‘90s, as she identifies as a lesbian in her private life. To prepare for her role as Tilly, Bacon researched about Dungeons and Dragons and used her own experiences as a high schooler and sibling to understand her character.
“My character Tilly is very realistic and depicts typical high schoolers, so she’s an easy character to relate to,” Bacon said. “[The biggest challenge] , however, is the stage combat; my character is a lot more aggressive than I am, so [all the fighting] is hard to pull off.”
Junior Francesca Barile plays Lilith the Demon Queen, and her real life counterpart Lily. Lilith is the daughter of The Devil himself, and according to Tilly, “She Kills Monsters” is the perfect combination of “brain and brawn.” Lily, however, is a mild mannered classmate and is another representation of the LGBTQ+ community in “She Kills Monsters” because of Lilith’s relationship with Tilly’s character in Dungeons and Dragons and Lily’s relationship with her in real life.
“Lilith and Lily are very different characters, having to play both of those personalities was an interesting experience,” Barile said “It was especially interesting because of the relationship that both Lily and her Dungeons and Dragons counterpart have with Tilly. Those circumstances are so different in so many ways, especially in the way that it connects her to Agnes.”
Kaliope Darkwalker, played by junior Gabby Papera, is a dark elf from the Dungeons and Dragons’ world. According to Papera, Darkwalker is a stoic and emotionless character, making her a difficult character to connect to. She finds that she is similar to her character in the way that they have strong loyalty and are not afraid to defend loved ones.
“Mr. Westerberg had a very specific vision for this show, and I think that is what makes it special,” Papera said. “This show can be done many different ways, and I think that his direction added such a heartfelt element to it, and that separates our production from others.”
Junior Bryson Ehrhard plays Chuck, “Dungeons and Dragons Master.” Chuck is a significant character in helping Agnes learn to play DungeonsT and Dragons game. According to Ehrhard, his performance had many challenges because of his character’s tendency to cope with many emotions and change his personality frequently.
“A lot of my preparation for my role was to read the script, so I have an understanding of who the character is and how he reacts to other people, ” Ehrhard said. “A huge challenge for me was going from extremely goofy and child-like to very emotional and serious, which my character did constantly throughout the play.”
Senior Bryant Bardeau plays Miles, Agnes’ boyfriend. Miles is a high school football player who struggles with commitment throughout the play, and he must learn how to cope with his emotions. According to Bardeau, the hardest part of this role is his character’s diction, which is mid-’90s slang.
“Miles’ emotions are mostly confused and angry, which are some qualities that are connectable but challenging at first to interpret,” Bardeau said. “Through scene repetition and lots of practice, Miles became easier to play.”
Senior Emma Gray plays Vera, Agnes’ best friend. Vera, according to Gray, is an openly sassy and sarcastic character. Though she does not have a Dungeons and Dragons counterpart, the scenes she has at her job at The Gap with Agnes and Miles on separate instances boil her character down to her honest, “tough love” attitude.
“Vera is the only person that Agnes can be completely herself with,” Lesser said. “They’ve built a relationship of trust over the years of their friendship, and Vera’s no-nonsense attitude keeps Agnes grounded, especially in the circumstances given in the play.”
Senior Griffin Moore plays Ronny and his Dungeons and Dragons counterpart Orcus. According to Moore, Ronny and Orcus are similar in the sense that they are both lazy, but are still very animated and serve as the comic relief of the play. Orcus is a retired demon lord of the Underworld who is reluctantly pulled into the quest that the characters of “She Kills Monsters” embark on.
“The role I play came so naturally to me because it’s very similar to who I am as a person. The biggest challenge is figuring out all the little intricacies and nuances of Ronny and Orcus,” Moore said. “A lot of the aspects of it were so exciting to me. I felt like I was a little kid again playing pretend with my friends, but still being serious enough in the grand scheme of the production.”
Farrah the Fairy is played by senior Madi Weisenberg and has a big emotional impact even though she appears for only one scene. As opposed to other roles that require more elements of stage combat, Farrah is unique because her fighting style appears to be more like dancing on stage. She possesses interesting personality traits as well, as Farrah is a bossy perfectionist but also very powerful and even throws a temper tantrum on stage, Weisenberg said.
“She Kills Monsters” is definitely a comedy, but also a drama in disguise. It’s a very touching story and very raw, but there are also a lot of cool magical and comedic moments within that,” Weisenberg said.
The characters Evil Gabbi and Evil Tina are played by freshman Grace Heroux and sophomore Aashna Patel, respectively. Gabbi and Tina are high school cheerleaders who bullied Tilly for playing Dungeons and Dragons, and their counterparts in the game do the same, even harassing her for being a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
“My character is very different from myself in the sense that she feels no empathy toward others, no remorse for her actions, and clearly does not care about anyone other than herself,” Heroux said. “Everything has to be planned, secretive and spiteful, which really showcases her true evil.”
Leave a Reply