"She Kills Monsters" - by Qui Nguyen - Concord Players (Concord, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Maya V.O.C. as “Lilith Morningstar,” Em Sheeran as “Tillius the Paladin” and Lena Vani as “Kaliope Darkwalker” in a scene from "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" by Qui Nguyen presented by Concord Players in Concord, MA. now playing through November 22, 2025. Photo Credit: Kim Cook)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“Forged by the hands of nerds, crafted in the minds of geeks, and so advanced in its advanciness it would take a whole second edition to contain all its mighty geekery!"
- ("Narrator") / Qui Nguyen
Concord Players
Presents Qui Nguyen's
"SHE KILLS MONSTERS"
Written by Qui Nguyen
Directed by Quinton Kappel
Choreographer Jamie Cook
Intimacy/Fight Coordinator Sydney Grant
Cast Includes: Devon Atwood as “Miles/Owlbear,” Ava Enoch as “Vera Martin,” Michael Gravante as “Steve,” Rachel Hall as “Agnes Evans,” Michael Jay as “Ronnie/Orcus,” Olivia Knickerbocker as “Evil Gabbi,” Chris Maloney as “Chuck Biggs,” Mia Mercurio as “Evil Tina,” Carla Perrotta as “Narrator,” Em Sheeran as “Tilly Evans/Tillius the Paladin,” Teva Skovronek as “Farrah/Monsters,” Maya V.O.C. as “Lilly/Lilith Morningstar,” Lena Vani as “Kelly/Kaliope Darkwalker,” Gabriel Diaz as “Stage Combat Creatures,” Tom Marsh as “Stage Combat Creatures,” Jason Nekritz as “Stage Combat Creatures.”
Additional Creative Team:
Co-Producers - Kathy Lague, Aiden O'Neal, Brian Kelly; Stage Manager - Paula McNabb; Assistant Stage Manager - Bill Fisher; Set Design - Allen Bantly; Co-Set Design - Ava Enoch; Props - Anne Bantly; Costume Director - Tina Zannieri; Hair & Makeup Design - Jamie Cook; Lighting Design - Tim Gregor; Sound Technician/Operator - Matthew Tse; Dramaturgy/Production DM - Tom Marsh; Lighting Board Operator - Susan Tucker; Publicity - Andrea Roessler.
Performances:
November 2, 2025 through November 22, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
All performances to be held at 51 Walden Street, Concord, MA. 01742
TICKETS:
Call # 978 369-2990 or visit https://concordplayers.org/
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
Concord Players does not merely move into its 2025-2026 season...it EXPLODES into it full force with the visually stunning "SHE KILLS MONSTERS."
As exquisitely staged by Quinton Kappel, the line between a distraught teen’s imaginary game world and reality blur as they converge simultaneously on stage.
The entire production is a vibrant display of creativity that would make any Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master proud…..uh…I think.
To be honest, I’ve never played the game before - but you know what?
You don’t have to know the game in order to watch this dazzling display of creativity unfold and recognize instantly that it is simply a visual and imaginative feast.
Using the entire Concord Players’ stage space, there is not a single moment wasted on stage and never a dull moment.
In addition to the articulate staging by Kappel, there is sublime choreography by Jamie Cook counterbalanced by top-notch action sequences staged by Fight Coordinator Sydney Grant.
(Photo: Em Sheeran as “Tillius the Paladin” in a scene from "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" by Qui Nguyen presented by Concord Players in Concord, MA. now playing through November 22, 2025. Photo Credit: Kim Cook)
"SHE KILLS MONSTERS" first debuted in New York City in 2011, then in 2013 had productions in both Chicago and Boston.
In 2012, the show would receive two Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Sound Design in a Play.
Since gaining traction, the show has since been staged multiple times, inspiring a “Young Adventurers Edition” for schools, although some schools will still refuse to stage it knowing the subject of a young person's sexual orientation is involved.
As the play begins, we are introduced to the Narrator (Carla Perrotta), who explains the events in the story we are about to witness and gives background info, setting up the story and our “dual heroines” Agnes and Tilly.
In "SHE KILLS MONSTERS," we are introduced to Athens, Ohio resident Agnes Evans (Rachel Hall), an average woman, working as a high school English teacher and engaged to be married.
Agnes speaks a lot with her closest friend, high school counselor Vera (Ava Enoch) who also knew Tilly as this was Agnes and Tilly’s former high school.
Enoch provides many great laughs as Vera throughout the play, easing much of the tension caused mostly by her friend, Agnes.
Miles (Devon Atwood) is Agnes's boyfriend of five years and the couple are in the process of moving in together but Agnes must first clear out her parent’s house.
(Photo: Rachel Hall as “Agnes Evans” with Ava Enoch as "Vera Martin" in a scene from "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" by Qui Nguyen presented by Concord Players in Concord, MA. now playing through November 22, 2025. Photo Credit: Kim Cook)
Years before, as if she had wished for the event to happen (which of course she didn’t), Agnes had lost her parents and little sister Tilly (Em Sheeran) in a fatal car accident.
As Agnes is cleaning and packing Tilly's stuff, she finds a game module Tilly had written for D&D.
Agnes reads Tilly’s notes but has no idea as to what she is reading.
However, she decides that perhaps by playing this Dungeons & Dragons game that Tilly had written she might learn who her sister was when she was alive a little better.
Hall is riveting as Agnes, who decides to embark on her own D&D adventure with her late sister using the help of a high school student and “Dungeon Master” named Chuck (Chris Maloney) to help Agnes play the game as Tilly designed.
Maloney is hysterical as Chuck, who not only teaches Agnes about the game but also serves as Dungeon Master for Tilly’s written game adaptation.
Becoming a bridge between fantasy and reality, as Chuck helps Agnes circumnavigate through the various pathways of the game, he simultaneously helps Agnes to understand Tilly by introducing her to Tilly's real life friends.
(Photo: Maya V.O.C. as “Lilith Morningstar,” Em Sheeran as “Tillius the Paladin” and Lena Vani as “Kaliope Darkwalker” in a scene from "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" by Qui Nguyen presented by Concord Players in Concord, MA. now playing through November 22, 2025. Photo Credit: Kim Cook)
In a sensitively approached performance by Sheeran, Agnes soon learns about young Tilly's highly personal revelations about her sexuality and multiple encounters with bullying in school.
For Tilly, it isn't just a game - it is very much her diary.
Besides being an explosively visceral experience, with imaginative puppetry, wild costumes, projections and other special visual effects simply off the charts (again the highest of praise is extended to the entire creative team at Concord Players), on the page"SHE KILLS MONSTERS" is also just a damn good story.
It is a sensitively constructed tale by Qui Nguyen, showing a plethora of diverse, young LGBTQ characters who are contending with adversity – both imaginary and real – simply because of their preferred sexuality.
As Agnes delves deeper into this quest, fantasy and reality worlds collide with Agnes determined to connect with Tilly a.k.a. “Tillius the Paladin” and soon realizing just how much of her sister she never knew.
In the game, “Tillius” has a girlfriend named Lilith Morningstar (Maya V.O.C.), a Demon Queen that is later revealed to be based on someone Tilly knew.
We also meet the mighty Kaliope Darkwalker (Lena Vani), a Dark Elf that resembles a hot muscular supermodel and is also based on a real person Tilly knew.
Both V.O.C. and Vani are fearless in their respective character roles.
(Photo: Rachel Hall as “Agnes,” Lena Vani as “Kaliope Darkwalker,” Em Sheeran as “Tillius the Paladin,” Maya V.O.C. as “Lilith Morningstar” and Michael Jay as “Ronnie/Orcus” in a scene from "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" by Qui Nguyen presented by Concord Players in Concord, MA. now playing through November 22, 2025. Photo Credit: Kim Cook)
As Orcus, Michael Jay portrays demon overlord of the underworld that possesses lost souls …and likes watching television.
And yes, Orcus is yet another character that is based on one of Tilly’s real-life friends.
As Agnes and Tilly form a posse, they travel to Orcus in search of the “Lost Soul of Athens” and Orcus joins them on their quest.
Miles also appears in the game attacking Tillius as a shapeshifting "gelatinous cube" - a monster that Agnes must kill, leading one to believe Tilly was not too fond of the fiancé.
Throughout the "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" tale we also meet various heroes and villains including:
- “Steve” (Michael Gravante), a mage and wannabe hero who gets pummeled…a lot…;
- “Farrah” (Teva Skovronek) an adorable, feisty little fairy who seems mischievous at first but soon proves to be a source of pure infernal hostility to the adventurers, and;
- “Evil Gabbi” (Olivia Knickerbocker) and “Evil Tina” (Mia Mercurio) are demonic cheerleaders that torment Tilly about her sexuality, both in the game and when she was alive.
In particular, Gravante excels at alleviating a lot of great tension during the story, replacing it with great laughter.
(Photo: The CAST of "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" by Qui Nguyen presented by Concord Players in Concord, MA. now playing through November 22, 2025. Photo Credit: Kim Cook)
This is a show that not only will resonate with geeks but with anyone with a pulse, a brain…and a heart.
While alive, Tilly never had the opportunity to come out to her sister - and the relationship either sister might have had with their parents is never even really mentioned let alone discussed or explored at length.
However, if the play successfully prompts parents and children in the audience to engage in a serious discussion on sexuality after seeing "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" all the better.
"SHE KILLS MONSTERS" continues in Concord until November 22nd, 2025, and be ye a Dragonborn, Half-orc or Tiefling (and I have no idea what any of those are), this is definitely one adventure you will want to play...I mean, "see."
Coming up next for Concord Players will be “THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME” running from February 13th through February 28th, 2026.
For tickets and more information, contact Concord Players at # 978 369-2990 or visit https://concordplayers.org/
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Approximately two hours, 15 minutes with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
"SHE KILLS MONSTERS" tells the story of Agnes Evans, a young woman grieving for her deceased sister.
The Evans sisters never were especially close, but after Tilly’s death Agnes receives a notebook containing a game scenario created by her sister.
She discovers that Tilly was a well-known "Dungeons & Dragons" player, and that she was passionate about online fantasy gaming.
In order to unlock more secrets about her mysterious young sibling, Agnes recruits a “dungeon master” named Chuck to help her understand and grieve Tilly.
Chock-full of supermodel elves, dominatrix warrior women, and nasty ogres, "SHE KILLS MONSTERS" is a surprisingly sweet tale of friendship, loss, and acceptance (STAGEAGENT).
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ABOUT THE CONCORD PLAYERS
THE CONCORD PLAYERS are proud of their continuous record of presenting quality theatre to the citizens of Concord and the surrounding communities. Three major productions are mounted each season. In addition, one-acts, such as the annual entry into the Eastern Mass Assn of Community Theatres (EMACT) Spring Festival, are frequently presented. Workshops in acting, directing, and technical theatre are also offered to the membership.MISSION STATEMENTThe purpose of our organization is to produce and perform quality theatre for the citizens of Concord and the surrounding communities. We encourage the participation of people with an interest in technical theatre, as well as in performing.
51 Walden Street
Concord, MA. 01742
# 978-369-2990
