GREAT BARRINGTON, MA—Bard College at Simon’s Rock’s Theater Program will perform She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen on April 11-13 at 7:30 p.m. and April 14 at 2:00 p.m. at the McConnell Theater at the Daniel Arts Center. Directed by faculty member and Simon’s Rock alum Sara Katzoff, this production brings together a company of over 30 theater makers including students, faculty, staff, alumni and guest artists working across disciplines of design, technical theater, and performance. Filled with gremlins, sword fights, demon queens, and dark elves, She Kills Monsters is an offbeat adventure that awakens the inner geek warrior in us all.
Set in Athens, Ohio in the mid ’90s, She Kills Monsters tells the story of two sisters from very different worlds and an unexpected game that unites them. While Agnes is an average teen desperate to fit into the mainstream, her younger sibling Tilly is obsessed with magic and all things Dungeons & Dragons. After Tilly’s unexpected death, Agnes finds her sister’s homemade Dungeons & Dragons module and becomes catapulted into the imaginary realm that was her sister’s refuge. In the hopes of forging a connection with the sibling she never really had a chance to understand, Agnes enlists the help of Tilly’s highschool D&D network to play out her final campaign.
Toggling between fantasy, memory, comedy, and drama, acclaimed playwright, director, and screenwriter Qui Nguyen (Vietgone, Poor Yellow Rednecks) brings us on an epic quest of discovery, belonging, and finding your chosen family.
Qui Nguyen is a playwright, screenwriter, and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning theater company, Vampire Cowboys. His scripts include the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; Soul Samurai; Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; Living Dead in Denmark; Stained Glass Ugly; A Beginner’s Guide to Deicide; Vampire Cowboy Trilogy; and most recently, Six Rounds of Vengeance. Other scripts include Poor Yellow Rednecks; Vietgone; Begets: Fall of a High School Ronin; Bike Wreck; Aliens Versus Cheerleaders; Trial By Water; and Krunk Fu Battle. His plays are published by Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing, and Playscripts.com.
Additionally, Nguyen is an award-winning fight director who has worked extensively as an instructor and choreographer for such places as Columbia University, LAByrinth Theater, Ma-Yi Theater, Long Wharf, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Public, HERE Arts Center, and many others.
Nguyen is a proud member of the WGA, The Dramatists Guild, The Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Playwrights Center, and an advanced actor/combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. He’s an alumni of New Dramatists and Youngblood. For television, he’s written for PBS’s PEG+CAT and SYFY’s Incorporated. He wrote “Raya and The Last Dragon” and co-directed “Strange World” for Disney and currently writes for Marvel Studios.
The cast and production team include: Director: Sara Katzoff; Production Stage Manager: Leo Earl; Fight, Movement, and Intimacy Direction: Sara Katzoff and Laura Standley; Choreography: Rowan Truman and Lydia Helmstadter; Scenic & Lighting Design: Juliana von Haubrich; Lighting Supervisor: Jean Volff; Costume & Armor Design: George W. Veale VI; Sound Design: Oskar Hurst; Production Dramaturg: Rimon-Hadassah Walker; Assistant Stage Managers: Frey Letton and Frances Zehner; Scenic, Props, Puppets, and Lighting Assistants: Saltinat Talentbak, Wren Faris, Michael Barrett, Rowan Truman, and Beltower Gunter; Featuring: Julianna Duran, Quinn Raper, Raahim Waqas, Reuben Guinta, Finley Baack, Agnas Allman, Emma Doucet, Eliza Doucet, Lydia Helmstadter, Gilbert Otten, Wilkinson McCallister, Olha Borovets, Leo Below, and Jojo Vinai.
The production is free and open to the public. Cash donations are welcome at the door. Reservations are strongly recommended. Reserve tickets here.
About Simon’s Rock
Bard College at Simon’s Rock is the only college in the country specifically designed for highly motivated students ready to enter college after the 10th or 11th grade. Simon’s Rock offers a challenging program in the liberal arts and sciences, taught exclusively in small seminars by supportive, highly trained faculty, who are leading scholars in their fields. The College grants degrees in more than 35 majors. The Princeton Review’s Best 380 Colleges rates academics at Simon’s Rock higher than Harvard and Princeton.
Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock is the nation’s first two-year boarding and day program designed to prepare 9th and 10th graders to start college early. A student entering Bard Academy as a high school freshman will earn an Associate of Arts degree from Bard College at Simon’s Rock after only four years and a Bachelor of Arts degree after only six years. The Academy curriculum is designed and taught by students’ future college professors who are leading scholars in their fields.
The Bard Queer Leadership Project (BQLP) is a revolutionary, new Bachelor of Arts degree program designed for, and by, LGBTQIA+ college students to elevate LGBTQIA+ students and college graduates into leadership roles in school and across the workforce. It serves as a space for actualizing educational practices designed for students to thrive. The centerpiece of BQLP is a four year dual major B.A. degree combining Queer Leadership with a second academic field.
For more information, visit simons-rock.edu, bardacademy.simons-rock.edu, and bqlp.simons-rock.edu.