Script and Functionality for “She Kills Monsters” Battle Corset

Summary of Given Circumstances From the Script

As stated in our promotional material...
“She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, she finds herself catapulted into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was her sister’s refuge. The dramatic comedy features homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and ’90s pop culture, acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.”

The battle corset presented in this Thespy submission was created for the deceased character, Tilly Evans. This character appears throughout the play as her Dungeons & Dragons character “Tillus the Paladin.”

(Lights come up on TILLY EVANS, a teenage girl decked out in full leathery D&D fantasy armor with a cool-ass sword in hand. She is surrounded by a horde of Kobalas [goblin-like creatures].)

Functionality Requirements

Throughout the play, “Tillius the Paladin” is involved in multiple battles with fantasy creatures as she leads a group of adventurers on a quest to retrieve her soul from a five-headed dragon named Tiamat.

The actress playing Tilly/Tillius the Paladin required a garment that would convey the strength and structure of body armor while allowing free range of motion for choreographed stage combat scenes with the actress wielding a large sword.

The garment also needed to withstand multiple rehearsals, shows (and  fight calls) over the course of the run.

I started my process by attending a fight choreography workshop so that I could get an idea of how the actor would need to move in the corset while wielding a sword and slaying all kinds of creatures.

In our production, the character remained in the imaginary world so there was no need to use quick-change options such as velcro closures.