She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen is a contemporary play featuring comedy, violence, and fantasy. Not only does it tell a thrilling story, but it also sends a meaningful message about inclusivity, specifically of the LGBTQ+ community. Poly has selected this play as the 11th and 12th-grade fall show. Through scenes that will make you both laugh and cry, this story will grip audiences from start to finish.
Mariko Watt, the show’s director, explains that she chose the play because she “wanted a show that was different from what we had done in the past. [She] wanted to integrate a lot of fun moments like fight choreography and sword work” that she thinks can look realistic with special effect choreography.
The play tells the story of Agnes Evans, a young woman who lost her younger sister Tilly Evans. She discovers an alternate world Tilly has created in her notebook revolving around Dungeons and Dragons. This leads to Agnes getting sucked into this world and involving herself in the game. On this journey, Agnes encounters a series of monsters and gets to know who her younger sister truly was. While still grieving her sister throughout the story, the show encapsulates the process of acceptance. The show illustrates the discovery of Agnes’s identity through the LGBTQ+ characters in the Dungeons and Dragons world. Watt shares that the play is about “accepting who you are and being true to yourself,” touching on “love between family members and how to support each other.”
One of the most captivating parts of this show is the costumes. Kim Griffin, the costume designer, has poured her dedication and creativity into each piece, bringing the characters and story to life. Firstly, Griffin’s primary focus when designing the costumes was making sure she honors how the show was set in 1995. Additionally, she wanted to highlight the difference between the fantasy Dungeons and Dragons world and the real world. She describes the outfits as having “armor and glitz,” specifically with the monsters. She aims to bring a scary aspect to them to contrast with the rest of the characters. “There’s that line you can [cross] of making it funny or making it scary, and I don’t want to cross into the silly aspect, because we’re not trying to mock the game” or “the people who are avid fans and players of the game,” she explains. “There’s a line of respect that I want to utilize.” Furthermore, the “characters who are not in the game are real, they’re not caricatures of people.” She wants the Dungeons and Dragons game to resonate with the audience as something real and relatable.
In a more technical sense, the costumes for the show require an amount of “rigging” which means that the costumes are easy to get in and out of. The students playing monsters in the show often play different characters and, therefore, need to be able to change with little time. Griffin’s process for creating these costumes was to get zippers, snaps, and Velcro, so everything is very easy to get in and out of quickly. Griffin’s thoughtful and technical process will highlight the costumes in the show as being enjoyable for the audience to look at while also sending a meaningful message.
One of our assistant directors and the actor of Agnes, Drew Waldman ‘25, has been tasked with two leading roles in the show. Although she is on stage for the majority of the show, she dedicates her time not on stage to “helping the group as much as [she] can.” It is “enlightening to [Drew] to see how other people are performing,” shaping her experience as an actor and director.
This show covers themes of grief, self-discovery, and identity, providing the audience with many ideas to think about. In three words Watt would describe the show as “exciting, fantastical, and innovative.” This story that includes so much entertainment and importance will be able to resonate with both the audience and the performers. Come watch the performances of She Kills Monsters in the theater on December 13th at 7pm, and December 14th at 2pm!
