The Ferris Theatre Department is taking the stage for its final show of the 2022-23 school year. With opening night around the corner, the cast and crew are preparing and working around the clock.
At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, at the Williams Auditorium, the “Dungeons and Dragons” inspired play “She Kills Monsters,” written by Qui Nguyen, will be performed by Ferris’ Theatre Department. The play tells the story of an older sister’s journey to learn more about her recently deceased sister through her sister’s D&D game, and includes both sword fights and puppets.
Theatre Director Katherine LaPietra and Technical Designer Sarah Aker chose this show for the spring play because of its story and because it includes a big enough cast for Ferris performers. The sword-fighting scenes, creature creation “puppets” and other mythical characters made the show more appealing to LaPietra and Aker.
“We also wanted to do a female-focused cast since ‘Kinky Boots,’ [the fall musical], had mostly male main characters,” LaPietra said.
Even though the Ferris Theatre Department has put together productions that involve sword fighting in the past, a little refresher was needed. The last show that involved a stage sword fight was “The Addams Family,” a Ferris production from 2014.
In the previous Torch article, “The show will go on,” that reported on opening night of “Kinky Boots,” secondary education freshman Benji Zorn was interviewed for his reactions in the audience. Zorn quickly became a fan of the theatre department after attending the show. A little while after attending the opening night of “Kinky Boots,” Zorn heard about the spring play and decided to audition.
“I saw the tryout form, and I was like, ‘What the heck?’ I’m not doing too much, so I kind of just hopped on in, and it’s been a great experience so far,” Zorn said.
Zorn plays the role of the car seen at the beginning of the show. As a shambling mound, which is a bush that gets to attack adventurers, he plays his final role as the middle head of the undefeatable dragon Tiamat.
“When I’m the dragon at the end, I get to let out a big howl,” Zorn said. “I feel really lucky to end the show as the last one hit.”
The time he has put into this show has only made his excitement about theatre grow. He plans on continuing to be a part of future productions throughout his college years.
Allied health administration senior Abigail Beveridge plays the leading role of Agnes, the older sister who engages in the D&D game in the production.
Beveridge has been a part of theatre since her freshman year when she stumbled across the tabling event that hosted auditions for the production “Nine to Five.”
During her years with the Ferris Theatre Department, Beveridge has started to feel like she has a second home. This year she started a tradition with biotechnology junior Kendall Paige, the actress who plays Agnes’ deceased sister, Tilly. The two came up with a “break a leg” dance that they do before every rehearsal.
“We were doing it early on in rehearsal as something fun, and then we just happened to do it every day before rehearsal started, and we haven’t stopped,” Beveridge said.
As they crack jokes about funny costumes during their rehearsals, the cast gets along well and has bonded, according to Beveridge.
This show specially features a heartfelt story shown in a comedic way. However, there are some other reasons for this show to be a sad one. For seniors in the cast, this will be their last show at Ferris. This will also be LaPietra’s last show at Ferris, as she is retiring soon.
“We are all very sad but happy, for she’s very loved,” Beveridge said. “She made this place a very safe place for all of us. She was the one who started the theatre department here at Ferris.”