She Kills Monsters

Poster for She Kills Monsters (Denise Elia-Yen, The Puma Prensa)

Written By: Dylan Cooper, Features Editor

Dungeons and Dragons is truly a one-of-a-kind type game, acting as a revolutionary tabletop that has changed how people approach so many forms of entertainment. It has inspired movies, games, and all kinds of other brilliant media outlets. This phenomenal franchise has even made its way over to the performing arts, where it will stand in the spotlight of Maria Carrillo High School's adaptation of She Kills Monsters.This is one incredible journey about overcoming loss and getting closer to new people in a way like none other.

The drama program here at Carrillo has proven its talent over and over again, producing quality work on a level that is extremely entertaining for its audience. It seems likely that they are going to repeat this cycle with the show coming up here, as the excitement that the cast and crew seem to share is absolutely radiating. “I am so excited,” said play director Denise Elia-Yen, who has worked incredibly hard to pull this off. “We’ve done similar content before but nothing quite as appealing to the teenagers and the school community, nothing as engaging as this before.” The uniqueness of the play definitely looks to be one of its highlights, offering something fresh for people to enjoy.

The topic of the play has gone and wormed its way through the ones running the show — nearly everyone has a relation to Dungeons and Dragons in some way. A few of the cast seem to have a really strong understanding of the table-top role-playing game, such as senior Aston Rashap, who plays the role of Chuck Biggs. The character acts as the Dungeon Master, who “is the narrative overseer, so they’re telling a story but they’re also overseeing the players, seeing what they're doing to kind of mold the world of the game and make it their own,” stated Rashap, who has had personal experience playing as a Dungeon Master. “Chuck’'s role in all of this is to help the main character Agnes explore the world of Dungeons and Dragons and why people love it so much.” This strong connection between the game and some of the people behind the scenes is a very good sign, allowing for both talent and passion to work in tandem, hopefully making for an unforgettable experience.

The cast does seem to be having an excellent time getting into character, taking personal interest in understanding what each role entails. “Lilith is definitely a role that was fun getting into. She’s someone who’s very out there with her words and it’s just been a really nice experience” explains junior Jordin Tracy, who plays Lilith, the Demon Queen. She, along with all of the other ensemble members, have spent hours of their time out of school rehearsing and preparing for the days coming up here, trying to make it as spectacular as possible. 

“This play was actually very well cast to where pretty much the entire cast is really like their character in real life,” said junior Story LaCourse, who takes on the role of Tilly Evans. They have also been working out the more complicated aspects of the play, such as the combat, which has a big part in this piece. “It’s not just about being able to fake-fight people, it’s also about being able to really engage with your stage combat partner and being able to understand each other’s body mechanics so everyone’s safe and having fun,” said LaCourse. From a grand perspective, this does look to have fit all the right pieces into place, pulling in members that are very well versed in this respect, while properly managing whatever area needs the most work done. The payoff should definitely be a sight to behold. 

Theatre Students Behind The Scenes (Denise Elia-Yen The Puma Prensa)

A lot of mechanical work has been done behind the scenes to get everything ready for opening night, making sure everything is in place to pull this thing off. Stagecraft and Theatre Production have made sure to do all they can to make this as accurate as possible. It has been a big task for the team, especially as there “is a lot of monster representation in this,” comments Elia-Yen, leaving them to take on the role of designing all the incredible props and visuals for when the curtains open. 

The first showing begins on January 22, and it’ll run until January 24. It has some mature content featured within it, so it is recommended that the show should only be seen by ages 13 and up. 

With everything ready to go, it seems like this whole thing will be more than worth your time, especially in the eyes of LaCourse, who says to “come and see the show, we’ll have a blast and shout out to all the nerds out there.”