Arts & Entertainment
Tapping Into Our Hearts: Dance at Meredith
By Olivia Slack, Staff Writer
From Nov. 16 to 18, Mere
dith Dance Theatre (MDT) and the
Meredith Jazz and Tap Company
(MJTCo) held their fall shows.
These four performances culmi
nated in the Sunday night gala,
which featured select pieces from
each company that were chosen
throughout the weekend.
I attended the Sunday
night gala show on Nov. 18 and
thoroughly enjoyed it. I found
the choreography to be innova
tive and often emotional. From all
She Kills Monsters
By Caroline Garrett, A & E
During the weekend of Nov.
8-n, the Meredith Ensemble Theater
performed She Kills Monsters, a
Dungeons and Dragons-themed
production written by playwright Qui
Nguyen. The play tells the story of
Agnes Evans and her younger sister
Tilly who died in a tragic car accident
at the beginning of the play. Tilly, an
accomplished teenage “nerd,” created
her own world by writing a complex
D & D game. Agnes, upon finding the
game’s rules amongst Tilly’s things,
recruits her sister’s Dungeons and
Dragons friends to help her complete
the (JU'feSK'Theplay Wfeavhs together
comedic relief as Agnes progresses
through the game, all the while
learning more about her sister and
processing her grief
The play’s themes grapple with the
complexities of identity and tackle
issues such as homophobia; however,
sexuality and disability are portrayed
without coming across as tropes or
replacing the story’s central focus.
Playwright Nguyen’s message is one
of the choreographers and danc
ers, there was nuance in both the
structure and individual movement
of the dances. In most if not all the
dances, there were complex and
clearly thought-out intricacies in
terms of shape and pattern. Rarely
were there matching lines of danc
ers with completely synced move
ments; choreographers instead
opted to add interest through the
use of facing and direction changes.
Solos and differentiation between
dancers were also frequently used.
Review
Editor
of not being afraid to be yourself and
the importance of having a place to
fit in. According to Anna Phillips, ‘22,
the production’s assistant director,
“the play’s ail about family...the story
in its entirety is about the bond
between two sisters as Agnes tries so
desperately to discover who her sister
truly was.”
Leslie Castro ‘19, who played Tilly,
describes She Kills Monsters as the
“piece de resistance” of her career as
a theatre major at Meredith College.
As someone who identifies with
the character, she felt like she could
finallyact in-the way that her theatre
classes had encouraged: by “liv[ing]
truthfully in a set of imaginary
circumstances.” “Acting Tilly’s story.,,
was painting a truth that I and so
many others have lived.” For many,
theater becomes a second home and
acting a way of self-expression that
allows for the creation and further
exploration of one’s own narrative in
.real life, and in She Kills Monsters.
Fantastic Beasts: A Fantastic Sequel?
By Olivia Slack, Staff Writer
Harry Potter fans worldwide
have been waiting for two years in
anticipation of the second movie in
the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Fan
tastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindel-
wald. A self-proclaimed Harry Potter
nerd myself, I went to see Crimes of
Grindelwald the night it came out
in theaters. As someone who ab
solutely loved Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them, the first film in
the series which came out in 2016,1
had high expectations for Crimes of
Grindelwald. I’d like to say it mea
sured up, but the reality is that it just
did not. This movie felt far too close
to a remake of the original Harry
Potter films in my opinion, with the
main villain, Grindelwald, becoming
increasingly similar to Voldemort as
the storyline moved forward. That
was the main issue I had with the
movie itself: it just didn’t feel origi
nal. Although J.K. Rowling wrote the
screenplay and it is based on her
own world, in many ways the movie
resembled a well-done fanfiction,
with a plotline tweaked just slightly
enough to be passed off as original,
and characters haphazardly thrown
into the mix just for fans who wanted
to see well-loved characters prior
and made for choreography that
was visually complex and interest
ing.
Although there was no
overarching story consistent with
all the pieces, I found each individ
ual dance to have enough emotion
al material that I felt impacted as a
viewer. Many of the dances I inter
preted to have themes of strength,
sisterhood and friendship, which is
fitting for students at Meredith. The
finale pieces especially, for both
MDT and MJTCo, were focused
strongly on our strength as women
She Kills Monsters was performed
in the Studio Theater of Jones
Auditorium, a small, intimate space
which solidifies and enhances the
theme of family by allowing the
audience to feel closer to the actors
than with a traditional auditorium
setup. The cohesiveness of the cast
and crew with one another was
also evident. Phillips and Castro
discussed the long hours spent
navigating the logistics of the
show beyond the usual blocking
and rehearsing of lines. The play
included dance choreography, fight
scenes, and life-sized puppets; and
many students dedicated their free
time to costume sewing and set
design. The collaborative efforts
paid off in spectacular performances
that allowed everyone involved to
showcase their talents. .
I attended the final performance
and was able to see just how hard
everyone had worked, how proud the
cast and crew were of their successes.
and on drawing on each other’s
strength to find our own. Addition
ally, while emotional, the dances
left some room for interpretation
for the audience members, allowing
us to mirror our own experiences
and emotions onto the perfor
mances and find our own personal
deeper meaning.
Overall, the fall perfor
mances for MDT and MJTCo were
filled with impressive choreography
and loads of dance talent, and I left
feeling thoroughly impressed with
the talent at Meredith.
arid how sad everyone was to leave
the show behind as they took their
final bows. While initially skeptical
of how I could relate, having little
knowledge of the inner workings
of D & D, I felt quickly drawn into
New Landia, the world of Tilly’s
creation, and spent my afternoon
laughing, crying, and finding pieces
of myself in the characters’ stories.
“That’s the funny thing about She
Kills Monsters,” Castro said. “You
don’t expect a play about the fantasy
game Dungeons &: Dragons to so
closely resemble life.” She went on to
explain, “In the weeks since the show
I’ve received so much support from
my fellow Angels...it was a pleasant
surprise to have a classmate...tell me
they loved the play and unexpectedly
connected with it.” Through several
well-executed • performances,
Meredith Ensemble Theater spread
a message of love, acceptance,
belonging, and the encouragement to
live your truth.
to the original series. However, the
characters’ actual inclusion in this
movie often felt forced.
A prime example of this was
in the case of Newt Scamander, the
supposed main character of Crimes
of Grindelwald and undoubtedly
the star of the first movie. Newt in
the first Fantastic Beasts movie was
an excellently written, well-rounded
character who had an important
and justifiable role in the storyline.
However, in this second movie, the
necessity of his presence was far less
obvious. I questioned the need for his
involvement in the defeat of Grin
delwald for more than a few reasons,
and those excuses that were given
seemed contrived. Additionally, the
inclusion of Newt’s love for the titular
“fantastic beasts” seemed included
only for the enjoyment of the fans
and offered no real importance to the
plotline, with the creatures that were
included having far less importance
than they did in the first movie.
On the positive side, some of
the new characters included in the
movie, despite their actual presence
feeling a bit forced, had intriguing
backstories and personalities. I’ll
“USiHTEN UP" -
Comic by Micah Clark, Cartoonist
avoid naming any specific names in
case of spoilers, but one character
in particular who is also present in
the main Harry Potter series has me
excited for the future Fantastic Beast
films especially. I hope that future
films in the series are able to explore
these characters’ personalities and
motives a bit better than Crimes of
Grindelwald did, and if that happens,
they will be truly enjoyable movies
that will be great additions to the
Harry Potter universe.