Cincinnati Country Day School’s 2023 fall play, She Kills Monsters, by Qui Nguyen was a complicated, but entertaining play to put on. This comedic drama had so much going on behind the scenes that was not shown on performance nights, so I spoke with Mr. Rose, the director, and Nicole McNeal, the lead actress, to get an insider’s view on the delightful production that was She Kills Monsters.
Nicole McNeal (class of 2025) portrayed the main character, Agnes Evans. Anges is a woman who has lost her mother, father, and sister Tilly in a car accident. While she is grieving for her sister, she comes across her involvement with the game Dungeons and Dragons. She tries to understand her sister by becoming involved with D&D herself, taking her on the wild ride that is She Kills Monsters. I asked Nicole some questions to get the behind-the-scenes scoop from the lead actress.
INTERVIEWER: What has been your favorite scene to rehearse?
NICOLE: Surprisingly, my favorite scene is the first one. I feel like it really sets up the plot for the play and it comes naturally for me when I work with my fellow actors.
INTERVIEWER: What’s a highlight from rehearsal that may be hidden in the final production?
NICOLE: One rehearsal highlight that I’d like to point out is how quickly the new freshmen are adapting. They know how to make everyone laugh, but also keep you on your toes. Their acting is also amazing and I’m glad they decided to try out this year!
INTERVIEWER: Why would you encourage more students to get involved with the arts at CCDS?
NICOLE: I think more students should get involved in the Drama department at CCD because of how much fun it can be. It’s a great opportunity to bond with and get to know people on a more personal level. Whether you choose acting or the technical side, there is something for everyone. Also if more students became involved, we could do bigger productions that require larger casts. It’s a lot of hard work, but it is also very rewarding when it all comes together on the stage.
In speaking with Mr. Rose, the director, I heard about the struggles of scheduling, the amazing 20-sided die that managed to sit beautifully on stage, and some of the thoughts behind the upcoming Spring musical, Seussical.
INTERVIEWER: When you first found out you would be doing She Kills Monsters, what was your approach? Did the play turn out how you imagined it would before you began practice?
MR. ROSE: I imagine things very cinematically, so my process is about maintaining a reasonable set of expectations. There’s all these references to spells, dragons, and all that, so I have to figure out how to do that realistically on a high school budget. The fun part of that is the creativity of the students adding to what’s happening. I went in with high expectations, I took them down, and let myself be surprised by the flavor that the student body brought to the show.
INTERVIEWER: What are you most proud of about She Kills Monsters?
I’m proud that this is a full 9-12 production. I’m proud that we have some very strong and talented freshmen working side by side with upperclassmen, each bringing a wonderful flavor, humor, and style to their acting. I’m constantly impressed by how they interact with each other. I’m also proud of the 20-sided die we built on stage and the beholder that we built from scratch. I’m proud of a lot technically.
INTERVIEWER: What was the most difficult thing to put together?
MR. ROSE: The schedule. Unlike sports where you’ve committed and that’s the thing for the afternoon, people who join for the play are often involved in several extracurricular activities and none of those activities overlap beautifully. We made the schedules this year to be more sports-friendly, we didn’t start until 5:30. Every one of those schedules doesn’t exactly line up, so you have to create a schedule where you can have everyone you need in a room at the same time to work the whole play. In the industry, they say that it takes about an hour of rehearsal for every page of the play and there are about 80 pages in this play. Nicole has probably rehearsed for over 130 hours. I think technically though, the 20-sided die was the hardest thing we’ve had to do ever. The master carpenter we brought in literally had to deal with trigonometry and how to plan it. It’s hard to appreciate because it looks like a bunch of triangles put together but the triangles have to be put together in a very specific way with angle and structure, so it’s a very impressive piece. It’s practically two stories, it takes up the entire stage right of the stage.
INTERVIEWER: What can we look forward to for the Spring musical?
MR. ROSE: We are going to do Seussical. I’m very excited about it because it’s an opportunity to put on a production that the entire school can enjoy. I hope to make it available for middle and lower school students to be part of the ensemble as well. I have been here for about four years now and I love that the students here want to push the envelope with their play choices, but it has made it hard for Lower School families to come out and enjoy, so I’m looking forward to this being a community experience. And, It’s just a fun musical. There are cool songs and costumes.
I hope to see many more students involved in the arts coming up, including Seussical, the Spring musical. She Kills Monsters was a complicated, but impressive feat to pull off, so be sure to congratulate all those involved, both on the stage and on the side of tech.
