Magicopolis Theatre Billy Campbell (l)
and guest cast member act in “˜Dungeonmaster.’
By Sasha Ali
Daily Bruin Contributor
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women
merely players” ““ at least that’s what William
Shakespeare said. Most of the time, though, conventional theater
confines itself to the parameters of a pre-arranged cast,
forgetting the rest of the “world.” In comes
“Dungeonmaster,” Bruce A. Young’s theatrical
incarnation of the popular role-playing game, Dungeons and
Dragons.
Breaking from the mold of scripted theater,
“Dungeonmaster” relies on audience participation to
propel its story. Theatergoers can sign up when they enter Santa
Monica’s Magicopolis Theatre to be a part of the cast for the
night. Anyone who’s interested in being a prospective player
fills out a character card, on which they indicate what kind of a
role they would like to play ““ for instance, a warrior
elf.
Names are then chosen, randomly, and the selected few who have
been called to the stage become the members of a party that is
given a mission to accomplish. They are furnished with weapons and
costumes and the capacity to use 10 rhyming spells (which one must
invent on demand according to the situation).
Whether they achieve their purpose is wholly dependent on them,
for it is the participants’ actions and reactions toward the
people, monsters and situations around them that drive the story
along its course. Subsequently, whichever way the story ends one
night determines what the next night’s story is going to
be.
Unpredictable? You bet””mdash;but that’s what makes this
play so unique.
“Dungeonmaster” is the brainchild of film and
television actor Young, who has been in “Jurassic Park
III” and UPN’s “The Sentinel,” among other
projects. A theater partisan himself, Young began working with the
Organic Theatre Company in Chicago many years ago, and eventually
created “Dungeonmaster,” based on the role-playing game
that he used to play.
“My immediate thought upon playing was how fun it would be
to play this on our feet, if we could find a way to combine the
game with the very big game of theater. So, I tried to incorporate
the fairy tale of bringing the watcher into the adventure, to see
what it would be like if we told a story and took some people and
made them heroes,” Young said.
The play opened in 1983, and had a four-year run at
Chicago’s Beacon Street Theater, which ended a year after
Young moved to Los Angeles. He said he always wanted to revive the
show in Los Angeles, and when his friend Kristin Intress, an actor
and producer of “Dungeonmaster,” discovered the
Magicopolis Theater, she suggested the idea to the owners, who
agreed to take up the production right away. It debuted in
September, and has an open ended run.
The show ended up gathering a following in Chicago, having
played for over 30,000 people during its run.
Among the followers was actor Billy Campbell, from ABC’s
“Once and Again,” who is co-producing the show along
with Young. Aside from giving Campbell a weekly dose of fantasy
role-playing, the show also launched his career towards acting.
“I started going as an audience participant every weekend,
and it was so much fun. Bruce eventually asked me to join, and it
was my first professional acting job ““ it helped me want to
be an actor,” said Campbell.
The show has steadily been gaining a following in Los Angeles as
well. Regulars, who have been following the story or are hardcore
fans of the game, come out every weekend. Some are in full costume,
ready to either take on a role with gusto, or to reprise their role
from previous shows. Since character cards are kept filed, many
“Dungeon” disciples often are able to retain the roles
they made up for themselves for future cameos.
“People know all the words, all the characters, what they
do. They come prepared, in fuller costume than we have. It’s
amazing, very encouraging,” said actor Amy
D’Allessandro.
Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to have knowledge of the
storyline if you are a first-timer because the story changes every
week. Cast members agreed that for them, the show’s lifeblood
is its ever-changing quality, which is a direct result of
integrating the audience into the play.
“We have no clue how it’s going to end. It’s
up to the audience, they make the story,” D’Allessandro
said.
It may seem that incorporating amateurs into the performances
would pose a struggle for the actors to do what they need to do,
and would hinder the plot from developing. Members of the cast,
however, say they adore working with the audience, and no matter
what happens, there is no wrong ending.
“I really liked the part where the audience participated.
It’s not really my thing, Dungeons and Dragons, but the
audience participation really did it for me. It had me laughing the
entire time,” said Maryam Javani, who attended the
performance for the first time.
Young hopes that word of mouth will help strengthen
“Dungeonmaster’s” renown in L.A.
“L.A. is a huge community. If we can tap into that market,
then “˜Dungeonmaster’ is destined for a very long
life,” he said.