ARTS SPOTLIGHT

Stage Combat, Giant Dragons, and a Fantasy Game

This fall Madeira’s theater program embarked on a quest to produce a fall play of epic proportions. She Kills Monsters—Young Adventurer’s Edition took us into the 1990’s world of the fantasy role playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)! It told the story of high schooler Agnes Evans as she dealt with the death of her younger sister, Tilly. As Agnes learned about her sister’s life, struggles, and love of D&D, the game came alive onstage, where she battled monsters both real and imagined. Beautifully choreographed moments of stage combat paired with flashing LED lights, larger-than-life puppetry, and a dramatic sound score completed the production.

Over the ten weeks of rehearsals, students learned stage combat from master fight choreographer Casey Kaleba. Kelsey Meiklejohn, the show’s director, tackled sensitive subjects, such as bullying, loss, and identity with the actors, serving as their guide through the journey to performance. Actors learned to trust each other, work together, and think outside the box as they addressed these issues and performed exciting fantasy fights.

Arts Department Chair Sasha Newman and Production Manager Adalia Tonneyck led the stagecraft class in creating unique costumes, giant dragons, and even a twelve-foot-tall 20-sided die. Students took on roles of Assistant Costume Designer (Sydney Marenburg ’20), Master Carpenters (Caroline Potter ’20 and Addison Callaghan ’21), Assistant Set Designer (Angela Zheng ’20), and Puppet Master (Malena Cecchi ’21). Students were challenged to step outside their comfort zone, learn new skills, and create something epic, magical, and unlike any theater production they had done before.

THEATER PRODUCTION CURRICULUM CHANGES With the goal of diversifying and promoting a variety of opportunities for students across all experience levels, backgrounds, and interests, the Arts Department has developed a new Theater Production curriculum as a guide for show selection. Over the course of four years, students will be exposed to plays and musicals from a variety of style categories. These styles include everything from contemporary female playwrights to Shakespeare, and rock musicals to classical Gilbert and Sullivan. We began this year with our fall play.

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