MadKing Productions to Present Qui Nguyen's SHE KILLS MONSTERS

MadKing Productions will present a production of Qui Nguyen's She Kills Monsters at MadKing's Fellowship Theater at the Gateway Mall, 167 S. Rio Grande St., from Feb. 19 to March 8 with 7:30 p.m. evening performances and 3:30 p.m. matinees. Tickets are available here.

The show is a comedic romp that explores the world of fantasy role-playing games. "She Kills Monsters" tells the story of Agnes Evans, a completely average woman who strives to be nothing but average, who loses her parents and little sister Tilly in a car accident. Having been distant from Tilly while she was alive, Agnes embarks on an adventure to get to know her sister better.

When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, she finds herself catapulted into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was her sister’s refuge. The plot takes place in reality and in the imaginary game world; in the game world Agnes learns about Tilly's exploration with her sexuality and subsequently, how she struggled with her sexuality in reality.

She Kills Monsters is directed by company co-founder James Naylor. The production features two casts of 13, selected after more than 50 people auditioned for the show. The two casts — the Dungeons cast and the Dragons cast — are rehearsing completely separately, offering audiences the chance to see a different show depending on which night they attend.

"She Kills Monsters" received its off-off-Broadway debut at The Flea Theater in New York City in 2011. The play was presented later at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 2013. The show can also be presented in a "Young Adventurers Edition" which removes the explicit language and ages down some of the characters.

Following a 2013 award by the American Alliance for Theater and Education, the play became a highly popular choice for high school and college theater programs, with hundreds of productions being staged worldwide. Later, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nguyen wrote a version designed to be performed online, called "She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms."

In keeping with MadKing Productions' mission to be LGBTQIA+ inclusive, the play brings complex LGBTQIA+ characters to the stage; the sexuality of characters is not the main focus of the play. "She Kills Monsters" also includes the storyline of coming out to close family.

Nguyen also intentionally wrote the characters in a way that allowed for actors of any race to be cast into every role; MadKing, too, strives to cast productions according to the ability of the actor rather than a character description.