Latin School of Chicago

I N V E S T M E N T I N Y O U N G L E A R N E R S Upper school students in the 2019 fall play "She Kills Monsters" by Qui Nguyen Latin's 2019 upper school fall play, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, is an energetic comedic drama set in a fictional high school in the 1990s and a special-effects- laden fantasy world within the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. The play is filled with ogres, killer fairies, evil cheerleaders and even a flesh-eating Jell-O mold! This ambitious piece presented numerous design and technical challenges. Over the summer, Director Nick Baer and performing arts faculty designers, along with guest costume designer Gaby Kuhn, collaborated to create the look and feel of the show, beginning by sharing a variety of '90s-era research images: D&D figurines and packaging, stills from MTV shows, album cover art and layouts from "Ray Gun" magazine, to name a few. With support from Latin's Performing Arts Endowment, additional guest artists were brought in to assist with the effort. Mask and puppet maker David Knezz taught sculpting and papier-mâché techniques, helping the cast create their own masks for several fantasy characters. Fight choreographers Dave Gonzalez and Nicky Jasper were integral in developing the dramatic final sequence of the play, in which a five-headed dragon, operated by student puppeteers in the balcony, swoops in over the heads of the audience to do battle with the play's hero. The fall semester stagecraft class was tasked with developing many of the effects and specialty costume pieces from the play. Students worked in groups to research techniques, gather resources and collaborate Students Killed it on Costumes for Upper School Play She Kills Monsters BEHIND THE SCENES L AT I N S C H O O L O F C H I C AG O 8

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