She Kills Monsters

Performing Arts at CCBC
presents

SHE KILLS MONSTERS

By Qui Nguyen

Director
Zach Hartley

Set & Lighting Designer
Technical Director
G. Maurice “Moe” Conn, III

Costume Designer
James J. Fasching

Stage Manager
Jalon Payton

October 31 at 11:10am
November 1, 2 at 7pm
November 3 at 3pm
November 4 at 10 am

She Kills Monsters is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.,
a Concord Theatricals Company

First produced in New York City by The Flea Theater
Jim Simpson, Artistic Director
Carol Ostrow, Producing Director

THE COMPANY

Setting: Athens, Ohio, and the imaginary land of New Landia
Time: 1995

RANDI SEEPERSAD (Agnes) has played a range of roles from Shakespeare to musicals to contemporary works. You may have seen her in: Rashomon, Alice in wonderland, Rent,The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Much Ado about Nothing. Randi has a Bachelors in Theatre and is currently working as an actress and techie. Previously working for field of Screams, Randi currently works as Sound and Lighting for Medieval Times. She is also working on her masters as an ER-PA. She is skilled in technichal theatre, special effects make up, singing, dancing, modeling, and combat (knives, hand to hand, short sword, mondoble, axe and katana). Randi has been acting in film/TV, and theatre productions in the MD/DC/VA/PA area.

AMBER WILLIAMS (Tilly) is a theatre major in her second year at CCBC. She has been in many shows before including Hairspray, Shrek The Musical, The Wizard of Oz, and Seussical. Outside of school, she is a part of Sky is the Limit Community theatre, Sky Show Choir, and On A High Note Show Choir. She also volunteers teaching a children’s theatre class at a community program. She is very happy to be a part of the cast of She Kills Monsters this semester and would like to thank everyone who made the show possible.

OSWALDO SERRANO-CASTILLO (Chuck) is an undergraduate at CCBC in Music. He has been in productions of Woodlawn Drama Club including Cogsworth in Beauty and The Beast and roles in Anne and Wizard of Oz. After CCBC, he plans to go to Loyola University or Towson University to keep pursuing music. Oswaldo is also a part of Film Society here at CCBC.

NICK HARLEE (Miles/Monsters) is a sophomore transfer from Frostburg State University. He majored in Theatre and has been in plays since high school where he performed as Peter in Rutherford Wolf, Robin Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Al in All in the Timing. In his freshman year at Frostburg, he played Reverend Hopkins in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Bill in Five by Ives and has done stage crew work as well. Nick is excited to act alongside a very talented group of young actors here at CCBC and wishes luck to all of them!

KRYSTAL GOODRICH (Kaliope/Kelly) is performing in her first play at CCBC. She is an ASL Interpreting student in her final year. After getting her Associate’s degree, she plans to transfer to Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania to continue her studies. Besides being a student and working full time, she likes to play with her dog, read, and spend time with friends and family.

MIA AWAD (Lillith/Lily) is excited to make her return to the stage as Lilith in She Kills Monsters here at CCBC Catonsville. As a Design and Production student at CCBC Essex, her credits include Stage Manager for Working, A Musical, Assistant Set Designer for The Verge, Assistant Lighting Designer for Father Comes Home From the Wars, and more. Outside of school, Mia continues her work in the theatre, having stage managed shows such as Vinegar Tom at Spotlighters Theatre. Mia hopes you enjoy the show and urges everyone to support local theatre.

NJ SAROFF (Vera/Farrah/Monsters) is a Graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is currently studying technical theatre design and education. When they aren’t behind stage or acting on stage, they teach drama and storytelling with Creativity First, and Hebrew with Beth Israel Learning lab. Previously they were stage manager for CCBC’s Choir Boy, Spotlighter’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, and STAR LTD’s Honeymoon in Vegas. They also were ASM for Fells Point Corner Theatre’s past production of Perfect Arrangement. Previously they have acted in high school, with Open Space Arts, and were last seen on stage in CCBC Essex’s production of The Verge. They are a published poet and performed playwright who has just finished their first full-length. Their next show they plan to stage manage is called Close Your Eyes and Sleep by AJ Peters, which opens sometime in January at Mercury Theatre.

SHARAE HARRIS (Gabby/Monsters) is a third-year student at CCBC and appears in her first production with CCBC Essex performing in She Kills Monsters. Sharae has also performed in Grease and Beauty and the Beast at a community theatre in Northeast Baltimore City. Sharae is a double major in theatre and dance. Once she graduates CCBC, she hopes to move further on with her education at Howard University or Towson University for performing arts. Morgan State University is also a school she has her eye on. She plans to take her place in the performing arts industry and become a successful artist on stage and off stage, eventually teaching dance to students and writing, performing, and directing plays in her near future.

ALEXIS METZLER (Tina/Narrator/Monsters) is in her first year at CCBC and She Kills Monsters is her first play at CCBC. Alexis has been in Oklahoma, Hairspray, Check Please, Clue, Shrek the Musical, and The Little Mermaid. In her free time, she likes to dance, hang out with her friends and sleep. Alexis would like to thank her parents, her boyfriend Cody, and teachers from high school, Ms. Kampes and Mr. Rolle for always supporting her.

MARCUS KING (Steve/Monsters) is a 19-year-old undergraduate theater major making his theatre debut with CCBC. He’s been in The Secret Garden, Damned Yankees, and Much Ado About Middle School at Carrie High School. He is working tirelessly to continue his passion for acting, taking it one step at a time to find himself in his craft on his path to becoming a commercial actor. He would like to thank his cast and crew for becoming some of his favorite people, reminding him about his overwhelming love for theater.

RYNE MCMURDY (Orcus/Ronnie) is a first-year theatre major at CCBC, making his performance debut with She Kills Monsters. This is the first production he’s ever been a part of. He is a young actor who is learning day by day how to be a better actor, by working hard and studying. Outside of CCBC, Ryne is also an excellent food server at Medieval Times.

ANTONY STROMSKY (Monsters) is in his first year as a Theatre major at CCBC. This is his first play at CCBC.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

When I was in elementary school, I loved the idea of fantasy adventure. I wrote stories about knights and dragons and watched The Black Cauldron over and over again. My mother took me to see a revival of Camelot starring Robert Goulet as King Arthur. Seeing actors costumed in armor onstage singing songs and swinging swords is the earliest impetus for me wanting to have a career in theatre.

Not too long after seeing that production, when I was in 7th grade, I started playing Dungeons and Dragons with a few friends on weekends. I took in fantasy movies like Labyrinth, Excalibur, The Princess Bride, and Ladyhawke. It wasn’t long before I was running my own D&D campaigns with my friends from the drama club at school. When I first read She Kills Monsters, I laughed, cried, and found profound nostalgia for this time in my life.

In the mid-nineties in a tiny town outside of the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, there were hardly any people of color. There were few, certainly none that I was aware of at the time, “out-and-proud” LGTBQ folk. Members of the drama club, show choir, and marching band were the “others.” But “bullies gonna bully,” so they attacked those of different body types, those with mental health disabilities, and those “others” described earlier.

Role-playing, theatre, music, video games, and counterculture were our methods of escapism from a frightening, and for us sometimes dangerous, local society. The “real world” felt constrained, while our fantasies were vast and full of opportunity. These fantasy adventures motivated and prepared me for real adventures; theatrical tours, moving to and traveling alone to other countries, and creating a new life and home here in Baltimore.

She Kills Monsters creates stark differences between these worlds while simultaneously blurring the lines between them. Agnes’ journey through grief and Tilly’s fantasies has a profound impact on the various real worlds that she inhabits: her work life, family life, and romantic life, just like Tilly’s real life has a profound impact on her fantasy life. This often-uncomfortable connection between fantasy and reality is the space in which this play resides and is indeed the frontier of every person’s personal adventure.

May your adventure with us be as enlightening for you as it has been for us, and may you take those lessons with you for the next entry in your life’s campaign.

Zach Hartley
Director

PRODUCTION STAFF

Director | Zach Hartley
Scenic & Lighting Designer/Technical Director | G. Maurice “Moe” Conn, III
Sound Designer | Zach Hartley
Costume Designer | James J. Fasching
Assistant Costume Designer
Costumes for Tilly, Lilith & Kaliope| Lauren Talbott
Makeup Designer | Becky St. Lawrence
Properties Master | G. Maurice “Moe” Conn, III
Stage Manager | Jalon Payton
Assistant Stage Manager | Shaterra Hatchett
Light Board Operator | Elijah Gross
Sound Board Operator | Nekko Sanders
Set Construction | Students of Stagecraft THTR 131
Stage Crew | Shaniya Douglas, Terry Eubanks, Andrew Pfluger
Scene Shop Assistants | Jwuan Aggret-Smith, Erin Johnson, Lauren Talbott
Box Office Manager | Lisa L. Boeren
Box Office Staff | Eva Grove, Thom Purdy
Production Photographers | Katie Simmons-Barth
www.katiesimmonsbarth.com
Production Manager | Brad Norris
Communications Assistant | Cathy Kratovil
Production Coordinator | Damon Krometis

PRODUCTION STAFF BIOS

QUI NGUYEN (Playwright) is a playwright, TV/Film writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys of NYC. His work, known for its innovative use of pop-culture, stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia, has been lauded as “Culturally Savvy Comedy” by The New York Times, “Tour de Force Theatre” by Time Out New York, and “Infectious Fun” by Variety.
Scripts include Vietgone (2016 Steinberg Award, 2016 LADCC Ted Schmidt New Play Award, 2016 Kennedy Prize Finalist); Poor Yella Rednecks; She Kills Monsters (2013 AATE Distinguished Play Award); Soul Samurai (2009 GLAAD Media Award nom); Begets; Krunk Fu Battle Battle; and the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G, Alice in Slasherland, Fight Girl Battle World, Men of Steel, and Living Dead in Denmark.
For TV/film, Qui’s written for AMC, SYFY, PBS, and Marvel Studios, where he is an alumnus of the Marvel Studios Writers Program. He currently writes for Netflix and Walt Disney Animation Studios for TV and film, respectively.
Notable honors include a 2016 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program (Peg+Cat), a 2015 NY Community Trust Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, and a 2014 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Fellowship. He’s currently under commission by South Coast Rep/Manhattan Theatre Club (The Vietgone Saga), The Geffen, Center Theatre Group/The Goodman, The Atlantic, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
He is a proud member of the WGA, The Dramatists Guild, The Playwrights Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Ma-Yi Writers Lab and an alumnus of New Dramatists and Youngblood.
His company, Vampire Cowboys, often credited for being the pioneers of “geek theatre”, holds the unique distinction of being the first and currently only professional theatre organization to be officially sponsored by NY Comic Con.

ZACH HARTLEY (Director/Sound Designer) (MFA: Acting – Kent State University, BA: Theatre – The Ohio State University) has directed and performed regionally and internationally with many companies including the Contemporary American Theatre Company, The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, and the Virginia Arts Festival. His previous directing credits at CCBC include Working: A Musical and Rashomon, and fight choreography for Rashomon, Romeo and Juliet, The Zoo Story, and True West. He is a certified teacher of the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique through the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. He’d like to give a special thanks to the inspiring cast and crew, his mother for her never-ending love and support, his partner Sara for the same, and his dog, Derglas, who is probably grumpy that Zach is not at home right now. Sorry, Derglas!

G. MAURICE “MOE” CONN, III (Scenic & Lighting Designer/Technical Director) is in his tenth year with CCBC where he is the fulltime Technical Director and Designer at CCBC Catonsville’s Center for the Arts Theatre. He has an MFA in Scene Design and Technical Theatre. Moe has been doing technical theatre since 1993, as a Designer, Technician, Technical Director, and Educator. He served as the Technical Director for 5 summers at Cockpit in Court where he continues to design both lights and sets. He has also designed for Vagabond Players in Fells Point. Moe has received multiple nominations for Best Scene Design from Broadway World.com and Received Best Scenic Design from the MD Theatre Guide’s Readers’ Choice Awards. When not backstage, Moe volunteers with “Behind the Scenes” which provides financial support for theatre technicians in need throughout the entertainment industry. He also helps coordinate the Long Reach Long Riders charity motorcycle ride, (www.LRLR.org ) to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS and Behind the Scenes, two theatre based charities.

JAMES J. FASCHING (Costume Designer) is the resident costumer in the Performing Arts and Humanities Department at CCBC. His career in design has taken him from designing for the Miss America Pageant, to having his own television spot on KDKA-TV for interior design tips, to designing hundreds of productions for Cockpit-in-Court Summer Theatre, Dundalk Community Theatre, Peabody Opera Company, Theatre Hopkins, and The School for the Arts in Philadelphia, to name a few. Mr. Fasching teaches Makeup Design for the Theatre program.

LAUREN TALBOTT (Assistant Costume Designer) is a CCBC student pursuing an A.A. in theatre design and production, and is the designer of the costumes for Tilly, Kalliope, and Lillith, and the bugbears. As a longtime fan of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as a costume geek, she is thrilled to be a part of She Kills Monsters. She would like to thank Zach Hartley for the opportunity to work on the show, as well as Terri Raulie for her encouragement, Moe Conn for his support, Damon Krometis for his guidance, and James Fasching for his patience. Enjoy the show!

BECKY ST. LAWRENCE (Makeup Designer) is making her design debut on this production of She Kills Monsters. She has taken CCBC’s Stage Makeup class with Siobhan Beckett and has continued to teach herself the craft. She works in the scenic shop at CCBC’s Essex campus. She plans on transferring to Douglas Education Center for their Special FX program.

JALON PAYTON (Stage Manager) makes his return to CCBC for his 8th show. Jalon is a recent graduate of CCBC, graduating in Spring of 2018 with an Associate of Arts degree in Theatre/Performance. While he attended the college he performed in 4 shows; Elephant Man, The Menaechmi Twins, Macbeth, and Everyman. He also was the Sound Board operator/Sound Designer for The Uprising Plays. He received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award in Theatre in his final semester. After graduating, Jalon decided to take a gap year and return to the college’s theatre program. He was the Assistant Stage Manager/Sound Board Operator for The Verge last fall, and Stage Manager for Father Comes Home from the Wars pts. 1,2, & 3. He is currently a theatre studies major at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Next year he will be working with Arena Players as the Stage Manager for August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. “I would like to thank everyone that I’ve had the pleasure to work with these 4 years on 8 wonderful productions, as a student and an alum. I’m grateful for the time spent, opportunities, and people I’ve met along the way. Thank you, Julie, Terri and Zach, for being such great mentors that I’ve had the honor to work with.”

SHATERRA HATCHETT (Assistant Stage Manager) is a young actress who is learning day by day how to be a better actress. She works hard and takes all the information that is given to her to improve her skills as an actress. She has been in many productions in high school. She was just recently in a play at CCBC Catonsville, she played Bertha in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

Special Thanks

Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis | CCBC President
Mr. Jack McLaughlin | Interim Vice President of Instruction
Dr. Rich Lilley | Vice President of Enrollment & Student Services
Dr. William Watson | Dean of Liberal Arts
Professor Patti Crossman | Chair of Performing Arts and Humanities
Dr. Rebecca Ocampo | Arts Pathways Coordinator
Jacqueline McTear | Senior Graphic Designer
Marc W. Smith | Technical Director, CCBC Dundalk