The story, written by Qui Nguyen, follows the life of Agnes, played by first-year graduate student Heather Lawler.
“It’s a really great show about this fantasy world and this really touching story of sisters that really got to know each other,” Lawler said. “It’s about how family comes together and letting the weird things about your siblings in and accepting them for who they are.”
Agnes, bored with her normal life, experiences an unfortunate twist of fate when her parents and younger sister Tilly die in a car accident.
This event begins Agnes’ adventure into her sister’s life as she tries to piece together the identity of the best friend she never had the chance to know.
“While she’s cleaning out her sister’s room, she finds this notebook so she takes it to this comic store and it’s a module to play this Dungeons & Dragons game her sister made,” Lawler said. “It turns out her sister is in the game. Throughout the show they get to know each other and bond and get to know these secrets.”
Junior Emily Kelly plays Tilly in the show and said she could identify with the character because of some very strong similarities.
“I could really relate to it because I have a younger sister and I was a total dork in high school,” Kelly said. “And I thought learning to sword fight would be ?awesome.”
Kelly added that her character has a pretty prestigious link to the game, so she immersed herself in the lifestyle to prepare for ?her role.
“Because she’s the best Dungeons & Dragons player in the city, I’ve been trying to learn everything I can about the game, and it’s really complicated,” Kelly said. “There’s so much information that goes into it and details you have to know. But it’s super cool, so it’s been fun to learn about it. Our cast even played a game all together and we had a blast.”
Lawler said she found out about the show because she has auditioned for BPP before and was recommended to see the director for this role in particular.
Lawler previously starred as Helga in “M. Butterfly,” put on by IU Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance, an experience she said really widened her scope as ?an actress.
“This is my first BPP show,” Lawler said. “Working with Murray (McGibbon) was great, we had such an amazing cast and it’s such an amazing show. I got to incorporate everything I’m learning in classes right now and I got to work very closely with my voice and speech teacher.”
Kelly said the process of preparing for this show was different than previous productions she has worked on because she really had to mold herself into Tilly.
“Our director gave me a project to write Tilly’s notebook,” Kelly said. “We agreed that the game module she wrote is also a sort of diary for her. It’s very private and a lot of people from her real life transfer over into the Dungeons & Dragons world she has created, either as her friends or as monsters.”
Lawler said this show offered its own learning experiences and she enjoyed the opportunity to take part in intense stage combat for the first time.
“Thirty minutes of the 90 minutes is stage combat,” Lawler said. “I have a fight with one of the bosses, punches and kicking, it’s really fun. Matt, our fight choreographer, is really great.”
Kelly said her dance background really helped her with the complex fight choreography.
“I have done a lot of musicals, but this is the first straight play I’ve ever done so it’s a very new experience to me,” Kelly said. “I come from a lot of dance training which I think really helps me in this show specifically because almost half the show is battle sequences.”
Lawler said the struggle was finding the line between humor and heart, as the production offers fun Dungeons & Dragons references and deeper sibling bond moments.
“There’s these scenes we were rehearsing and breaking down and crying,” Lawler said. “Anyone who has a sibling will understand.”
The core message of the show, according to Lawler, is that moving on is a natural, albeit difficult, part ?of life.
After her sister and parents die, Agnes has to move on from the tragedy and continue to live her life.
“I want (the audience) to learn to kill their own monsters in their life and follow their dreams,” Lawler said. “It’s an analogy. Agnes is having to battle all these regrets she has in her past. In the show she’s literally killing monsters, but it’s an analogy for letting go of the past and moving on with your life.”
Tickets are $20 for general audiences and $17 for students and seniors.
Tickets can be purchased at the Buskirk-Chumley box office or at the door prior to the show.
Tickets can also be purchased online at ? newplays.org.
If seats are still available five minutes before the show, students may purchase tickets for only $5.
The show will be staged at BPP located at 107 W. ?9th St.
