Agnes is just an average girl living a seemingly average life, but behind closed doors — she kills monsters.
Cal State Long Beach’s University Players kicked off their spring season Feb. 17, with a production that is sure to make audiences laugh, and possibly even cry.
“She Kills Monsters” is the tale of Agnes, played by Ammy Ontiveros, who lost her entire family in a car crash. This included her sister Tilly, the strongest Dungeons and Dragons warrior in all of Lakewood, played by Julia Beaty.
Though the seemingly dull Agnes never made much of an effort to get to know her imaginative and adventurous sister while she was alive, she chooses to get to know her after her death through Tilly’s own original module — written guideline for a D&D quest.
If my math is correct, the play takes place in 1996. It was a time when dial-up reigned supreme and there were no online role playing games like World of Warcraft. Antiquated concepts like geek-shaming and the idea that women were not allowed to be “nerds” were still in effect.
Hearing these perceived notions spoken in the narrator’s opening monologue made me immediately skeptical; however, by the end of the performance these outdated views are rectified — and then some — to reflect the social climate of today, where congoers are praised for their dedication to cosplay, and everyone is free to unleash their inner nerd.
The proudest nerd of them all, Chuck, played by Tommy Nguyen, quite possibly steals the show. He comes out after the opening monologue and quite literally cuts the onstage tension set by the narrators with a knife, or sword, or whatever else the audience suggests to him.
Nguyen takes the stage with total confidence and charisma, acting not only as Agnes’ dungeon master in the performance, but as the DM for the whole theater. In the opening scene he introduces the game of Dungeons and Dragons to the audience by involving them in a game of their own.
He improvises the game-play based on the unexpecting audience members’ roll of the 20-sided-die and answers to his question, “What do you want to do?” In Tuesday night’s production we fought an evil catfish, turning it into fish sticks using a fireball spell, a sword and by summoning “Dragon Ball Z.”
We then transitioned back to Agnes, who now works as a teacher at Tilly’s old high school — where she would have be a senior. She recruits the help of Chuck to teach her the game her sister loved so much. She begins spending all her time him, much to the dismay of her boyfriend Miles, played by Christian Sullivan.
Chuck takes her through Tilly’s module, where she finds Tillius the Paladin, her sister’s D&D character. They are joined by Tillius’ team, the demon queen Lilith Morningstar and the dark elf Kaliope Darkwalker.
It is a little confusing at first to see Anges — deemed Agnes the Asshatted — interacting with her deceased sister, and sometimes having extremely personal conversations with her.
Still, it is assumed and eventually evident that in the reality of the plot she is actually talking to Chuck the whole time, at times making him more of her therapist than her DM.
Their journey to find the lost soul of Athens (Tillius’ soul) has a bleak irony that is not lost on Agnes or the audience.
Along the quest, the team recruits the demon overlord Orcus, played by Ryan Chiu, whose apathetic behavior adds an extra element of comedy in an already humorous show. I especially appreciated the abundance of ‘90s references such as TV/VCR combos, “Quantum Leap” and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Though the performers keep the audience laughing throughout the show, there are plenty of emotional crises along the way. These moments mainly happen when it becomes apparent that certain characters in the module are based on students at Agnes’ school, i.e. her crush and her bullies.
The play comes to a tear-jerking close upon Agnes’ – and the audience’s – realization that Tilly and her real life gang of misfits found solace in D&D by living in a fantasy that allowed them to become the people they dreamed of being; their happiest self. Ultimately, in Tilly’s absence, Agnes carries on her sister’s fantastical legacy and bonds of friendship.
“She Kills Monsters” is sure to entertain as well as tug on the heart-strings of audiences through the end of this week, with 8 p.m. showtimes Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.