Connecticut Repertory Theatre to Present SHE KILLS MONSTERS

Connecticut Repertory Theatre opens its 2021-22 season with She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, directed by Beth Gardiner. All performances will be presented outdoors, beginning on Thursday evening September 30 at 7:30pm, and continuing on Friday October 1 at 8pm, and Saturday October 2 at 8pm. Performances will be presented free-of-charge, for members of the UConn community, by a diverse ensemble of student actors. While the performance will be taking place outdoors, masks will be required.

She Kills Monsters strikes a balance between comedy and dramatic themes of grief and loss, while appealing to the gamer geek in us all. After the loss of her little sister Tilly, in a car accident, Agnes attempts to connect with her through the Dungeons and Dragons notebook she left behind. Immersed in a wild adventure of a fantasy world full of monsters, homicidal fairies and elves, and 90s pop culture, Agnes learns more about her sister and the misunderstood gaming world Tilly inhabited before she was abruptly taken away.

She Kills Monsters highlights the unique puppet arts talent resident at UConn. Since 1964, the University has led the academic field of puppetry, and uniquely offers Bachelors and Masters degrees in the discipline. This provides CRT with special abilities to present the monsters mentioned in the title of the show.

Director Beth Gardiner worked with CRT previously, directing last season's online production of Men on Boats. Gardiner is a theatre maker based in New York City. Her work focuses primarily on new plays, or on making old plays feel like new plays. A North Carolina native, Gardiner earned a BA in Theatre from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Directing at UC-Irvine, where she co-founded World Premiere Weekend, a festival of new work that premiered nearly forty new plays on campus in its first year. In 2013, she co-founded Three Day Hangover, a New York City Theatre Company that creates fresh, unexpected, immersive productions of classic plays in bars and other not-usually-theatre spaces. She is also an Artistic Company member at Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina. Gardiner has worked as a director, dramaturg, assistant director and educator at theatres across the country, including the Great River Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Utah Shakespeare, South Coast Rep, Santa Rosa Summer Rep, Fugitive Kind, Bialystock and Bloom, Milwaukee Shakespeare, The Atlantic Theater Company/NYU Training program and the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts.

For more information, visit crt.uconn.edu or call 860-486-2113.