St. Helena’s Drama’s manufacturing of Qui Nguyen’s “She Kills Monsters,” opening Friday, is a comedy/drama about sisterhood, tolerance, and the distinction between who you might be and who you fake to be.
And if a couple of demons get slain alongside the way in which, all the higher.
Early scenes carried out throughout a press preview on Monday arrange the story of Agnes Evans (Anna Harrington), a younger trainer whose mother and father and teenage sister, Tilly (Sonny Calder), are killed in a automobile crash. Agnes didn’t have a lot in widespread with Tilly, who was unabashedly nerdy and, because the viewers quickly discovers, homosexual.
Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons module, a storyline set on the earth of the tabletop role-playing sport. With assist from Tilly’s pals, she enters a fantasy world of monsters, a leather-clad demon queen (“Violence makes me sizzling”), a haughty darkish elf, and a malevolent fairy with acrobatic fight strikes. At the same time as she often rolls her eyes on the geeky proceedings, Agnes lastly begins to grasp her sister’s interior life.
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Harrington, who performed Wednesday Addams in 2022’s “The Addams Household,” stated her lead position in “She Kills Monsters” required her to memorize a whole lot of traces and struggle choreography whereas connecting with a personality who has skilled unimaginable loss.
“It’s in regards to the significance of making a welcoming, supportive, loving atmosphere, and about how individuals’s phrases and actions can damage others,” Harrington stated. “These points are present in all of our lives. We’re utilizing our voices and our theater to share these messages that some individuals want to listen to.”
The present, directed by Patti Coyle, options struggle choreography by Matt Cowell, and solid members say each hack and slash is meticulously rehearsed with no room for improv.
“Every struggle is similar, however we use totally different steps and strikes to make it look totally different,” stated Jerry Rocha, who performs a monster. “Whenever you break it down on paper, you may see the sample. It’s all rigorously choreographed, as a result of if there’s any spontaneity it would lead to an damage.”
The play is narrated by three hooded figures who assist the viewers navigate Agnes’ actual world versus Tilly’s fantasy world. One among them, Andrew Rayner, stated he lowers his voice and speaks “slower and extra dramatically,” even when the issues he’s saying are supremely foolish.
Jathan Reynolds additionally provides humor as a dorky and insecure dungeon grasp, the sort of man who retains insisting he has a girlfriend who attends one other faculty.
“He’s roughly 90% me,” Reynolds stated with amusing. He’s not into D&D himself, however his brother is, so he understands the sport’s enchantment.
Lukas Jeworowski’s character, Orcas, is about up because the demonic “overlord of the underworld,” however he’s revealed to be a teenage sofa potato named Ronnie who’d fairly be dwelling watching “Quantum Leap” on his state-of-the-art TV/VCR than slaying monsters, imaginary or in any other case.
Jeworowski’s crimson demon make-up and horns typically take so long as quarter-hour to use, however he stated to search for one scene the place he has solely a few minute to place it on.
“That is my first massive manufacturing, and I actually get pleasure from it,” he stated.
The cultural references and alt-rock soundtrack situate the story in 1995, earlier than nerd tradition and the web went mainstream. Apart from Agnes, the one character who’s not steeped within the ritualism of D&D is Agnes’ normie boyfriend Miles (Ethan Peterson), who’s startled to seek out her consorting with geeky role-players, a few of them male.
St. Helena Drama buffs will keep in mind Peterson as Colonel Arbuthnot in “Homicide on the Orient Specific” and Curly in “Oklahoma!” He’d additionally finished some exhibits earlier than coming to St. Helena Excessive College, “however these final two have been actually enjoyable,” he stated.
Liam Pleasure performs the hapless Steve, whose enthusiasm for D&D outstrips his talent. Anticipate him to be slain steadily in the course of the imaginary struggle scenes.
“This touches on a whole lot of points which can be necessary to in the present day’s excessive schoolers,” Pleasure stated. “Points just like the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and simply becoming in usually, which a whole lot of college students battle with. It has some humorous moments and a few unhappy moments, however largely it’s simply enjoyable to look at.”
“She Kills Monsters” has the equal of a PG-13 score for sturdy language and delicate grownup themes, together with LGBTQ+ references.
You’ll be able to attain Jesse Duarte at (707) 967-6803 or jduarte@sthelenastar.com.