Did the city of Philadelphia just roll a nat 20 on a performance check? Because a DUNGEONS & DRAGONS theater experience is headed our way this weekend. What’s more, you don’t even have to understand that joke to come see it.
The show, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS The Twenty-Sided Tavern, is currently touring the country and will be in Philadelphia for four performances at the Miller Theater from Friday, Oct. 10 to Sunday, Oct. 12. The show is a mix between scripted material, improv and an actual game of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.
“For years, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS has immersed players in stories of their own making, giving each person imaginative freedom and the opportunity to pursue adventure in a unique community,” said Frances Egler, Ensemble Arts’ vice president of theatrical programming and presentations in a statement. “This live, interactive experience celebrates that spirit, turning the tables on our traditional audience dynamic; now the audience is in on the story, and their choices drive the onstage action, controlling the actors and advancing the plot.”
Each performance is guided by a fetch quest, in which the actors have to find specific items. And like an actual game of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, the actors will be rolling dice — often twenty-sided dice — to inform how the show plays out. In addition, audience members can make decisions for the characters on their phones, through the browser-based platform Gamiotics.
In this vein, no two performances are the same.
“I think that the possibility at any time of a massive failure, not only in the dice not allowing you to do something, but also in just making a joke that doesn’t work, or giving an offer that just didn’t work … is a really cool opportunity,” said comedian and actress Jasmin Malave, who will be performing this weekend. (She notes that, on the flip side, there is always potential for a “massive success.”)
And if you’re unfamiliar with high-fantasy tabletop role-playing games, no worries. The actors explain the rules of the show to the audience at the top of every performance.
“We start off every show with a scripted introduction to the world and game of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, as well as an introduction to the people currently on stage that day,” Malave said. “All of us can play anywhere between two and five roles, and there’s only five people on stage at a time. So it’s a really cool, very different thing that we’re doing with this ensemble, rotating cast.”
According to Malave, specific parts of the show usually follow a certain trajectory.
“There’s a few beats where the audience almost always picks the same exact thing. Not always, but like with 95% certainty, we know that certain votes will go a certain way,” she said.
The prime example is at the very beginning of the performance, a character is unable to pay his bar tab. In turn, the audience can either choose to tell the truth or lie to get out of it.
“Nineteen times out of 20, the audience is going to pick the lie,” she said. “It’s fun. How often do we get to lie in real life without consequences?”
Still, there’s always that 20th time.
“Every so often we get to tell the truth,” she added. “And there’s something really fun and beautiful about those moments as well, when the audience surprises you.”
Because the performance is always changing, the actors can never be sure of the direction they are headed in. One time, for example, the audience decided to name characters after Broadway legends like Patti Lupone — resulting in multiple theater-related puns throughout the night.
The Twenty-Sided Tavern show first officially premiered off Broadway last year — although an early iteration appeared at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in 2021.
“If anything, the show is not so much traditional theater as community-building, starting with the theater itself,” wrote the New York Times’ Elisabeth Vincentelli in a review. “The upstairs lobby is decked out in DUNGEONS & DRAGONS-themed paraphernalia, including a figure of a Mimic creature, and well-stocked bars help explain the crowd’s increased giddiness after intermission.”
Malave believes that the continued fervor for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, is indeed that sense of magic and community. A game that was once billed as niche and nerdy is no longer just for the ‘80s kids of Stranger Things; it has a bunch of loyal fans.
“There’s a lot of talk nowadays about third spaces, especially with the way things are now, and a lot of people working remotely,” Malave said. “Finding a third space naturally is harder and harder. And these third spaces, where people can naturally create friendships that are outside of just work and familial relationships, are so valuable.”
She added, “The idea of being able to sit down with your friends — sit down with a group of people that maybe you didn’t even know at all — and become so close because you worked together like it’s a group project. Creating a story together, it makes people excited.”
Tickets for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS The Twenty-Sided Tavern can be purchased online, by calling 215-893-1999, or in person at the Academy of Music Box Office. Shows are scheduled for:
- Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 11, at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 12, at 1:30 p.m.
The post Embark on a live DUNGEONS & DRAGONS quest at the Miller Theater this weekend appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY.
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