“She Kills Monsters” Starts Smoothly in Designer’s Run

The Frostburg State University Department of Theatre and Dance has begun rehearsing its Fall 2014 production of the comedic action play, “She Kills Monsters,” written by Qui Nguyen.

On September 30, the actors and actress performed what’s called a “rough run” or “designer’s run,” which is a stripped down, bare-bones performance to give the designers and the technical crew an idea of how the play will run. During the designer’s run, props, costumes and the set are typically unfinished.

Actors and actresses will continue to perfect their lines and blocking (where they should be on stage) as well as continue developing and building their characters.

While watching the performance, the costume designer, props master, lighting designer, set designer, sound designer and puppet master will take notes in order to refine and modify the technical aspects of the play. It’s important to note that prior to this point, the designers have not seen the play.

Emily Thompson, the sound designer, stated, “You can only get so much from reading the script. You have to actually see it to get a good idea of what it’s like.”

Erik Braun, master carpenter and lighting designer, said, “You have to see it so you get an idea of how the play works and how it looks on stage. It’s good for the designer to get a spatial awareness of how the stage looks.”

This phase of rehearsal can be extremely stressful on the designers, who usually just have another week to complete the technical side of the show. It’s essential for the technical elements to be mostly completed by the time tech week starts. Then, designers will just work on refining the designs for the dress rehearsal.

As props designer Kim Lartz said, “Theatre lives and dies by deadlines.”

Despite the stress felt by the designers to have everything in working order, Stage Manager Lis Becraft remains confident.  “Everything went smoothly,” she said of the rough run.

“It’ll come together,” stated a confident designer, James Ladow. “It always comes together in the end.”

“Monsters” begins after average Agnes’s little sister Tilly passes away and Agnes comes across Tilly’s old Dungeons and Dragons set. Agnes begins playing Dungeons and Dragons to better know her nerdy, younger sister. As she gets deeper into the game, she finds that Tilly’s character, Tillius the Paladin, has lost her soul. Tillius the Paladin, Agnes the Asshatted and their nerdy friends embark on a journey to recover Tillius’s soul—and a relationship between two sisters.

Balancing reality with fantasy, the characters struggle with imaginary demons—and real ones.

“She Kills Monsters” opens on Friday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Additional performances will take place on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Thursday, Oct. 23 through Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m.

Individual tickets are $12 for general admission and $6 for students.

For information, call the Theatre and Dance box office at 301-687-7462.

First picture credited to FSU Dept. of Theatre and Dance.

Second picture was taken by TBL/Brad Kroner.