By The Keystone Newspaper The show runs for four performances
By Lynda Feustel
Actors Creating Theatre’s (ACT) second-to-last show of the season, “She Kills Monsters,” opens this weekend in the Little Theater at Schaeffer Auditorium. The show will run for four performances from April 16 through 19. Thursday and Friday performances will be at 7 p.m., and Saturday performances will be at 2 and 7 p.m.
Tickets are $8 for KU students, $10 for senior citizens and $14 for general admission and can be bought from KUPresents.
“She Kills Monsters” follows Agnes Evans, an average high school English teacher coping with the death of her sister, Tilly, as she comes to better understand her through the Dungeons and Dragons adventure she left behind.
The production is directed by students Jalal Muhammad and Quincy Sheneman, with dramaturgy by Maya Hepler. Choreography is by Muhammad, and lighting design is by Mars Smith.
“‘She Kills Monsters’ is a story that blends 1995 nostalgia, tabletop role-playing fantasy, and emotional realism to explore grief, identity and connection,” Muhammad said. “As Agnes battles monsters alongside Tilly’s friends, the game becomes a doorway into the parts of her sister she never knew—her creativity, queerness, bravery and longing to belong.”
Dungeons and Dragons is a key aspect of the show, and many members of the company have previously played the game or began playing in the past two months. For character development early in the production, the directors had actors create D&D-style character sheets for their roles.
“D&D has always been such a special game for me,” Sheneman said. “As a queer and trans kid growing up in a smaller, more conservative area, D&D was an outlet for me to be the most amazing version of myself.”
The cast and crew have been working since late February to bring this production to life.
“This cast has been nothing short of phenomenal.” Sheneman said. “Watching them get better and more confident with each rehearsal makes my heart fuller and fuller. The bond between the cast and crew members is so strong and I’m so proud to have been a part of creating such a loving environment.”
“Overall, ‘She Kills Monsters’ is about how stories help us process grief, how love survives through memory, and how embracing imagination can lead to understanding, acceptance, and healing,” Muhammad said.
More information on “She Kills Monsters” and future ACT productions can be found @act_ku on Instagram.
Photo Credit: Emily Novak @enovakphotography