After a two week run of shows, Ole Miss Theatre will put on its last performances of “She Kills Monsters” this week. The final shows are at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 through 13 and at noon on Oct. 13 and 14 in the Meek Auditorium.
Written by Qui Nguyen and first performed in 2011, “She Kills Monsters” is a comedy featuring homicidal fairies and references to 1990s pop culture.
The play centers around Agnes Evans who leaves her home in Ohio after her teenage sister, Tilly, and her parents die in a car accident. Agnes finds her little sister’s journal in which she wrote a Dungeons & Dragons game, then takes the journal to a game store in order to learn more about it.
After visiting the store, Agnes decides to play the game. On this journey, Agnes discovers things about Tilly that she did not know before. In doing so, Agnes is able to get closure about what happened to her sister and create a connection with her that didn’t exist when Tilly was alive.
Guest director Michael Hood said that Nguyen’s play is a “masterpiece of inclusion nestled within an adventure that is much more than it might seem.”
Hood said he has worked on many shows, but this play in particular has much more action, monsters and strong female characters.
“It has a great deal of fighting in it, so there is a lot of combat choreography,” Hood said.
Hood also said that senior theatre arts major Sydney Hanson was the perfect fit to play Agnes because of her experience with combat acting.
Production for “She Kills Monsters” began last spring and the cast started rehearsing in mid-August. Sophomore theatre arts major Lizzy Martin, who plays Tilly, said that they have had rehearsal every day since August 20.
Martin said that one of her favorite things about the show is the costumes and weapons they get to use.
“The costume designers really did a great job putting all the ideas together and everybody on the design team (did),” Martin said. “They all did such a phenomenal job in really just bringing this whole project together.”
Martin said the whole story is meant to show that it is alright to “be yourself” and accept others for who they are. Martin also added that even though Agnes and Tilly weren’t close when Tilly died, by playing the game, Agnes got to feel connected to Tilly.
Since part of the play is about accepting others, Martin said that one of the things that helps her get into character is thinking of her little sister, who is a part of the LGBTQ community.
“I’m not necessarily playing (my little sister), but most of my actions and emotions are definitely inspired from the way she possibly feels about certain situations,” Martin said. “It really helps me connect with the character in such a better way.”
