DEFENDERS OF THE 8 BIT! Where Gaming Meets Theater!
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FINAL DEFENDERS is about the Konami Atari Alliance of Eden 3, which is being attacked by the evil Queen Bowsera. Their only hope lies with a ragtag band of earthlings, each plucked out of their own time and each chosen for their unique gaming skills. Together they become THE FINAL DEFENDERS!!!! (Cue 80’s synth soundtrack)
Choose your fighter:
The play starts off with Samantha (Melissa DeLancey) looking to play a video game at the local arcade. She is with her boyfriend who doesn’t get her, but has the most radical pink sunglasses you will ever see (worth the price of admission). While he goes off to play Altered Beast, she finds an older game called Final Defenders. With one token she defeats the game when suddenly two pacifist aliens (David Hicks and Amy Overman) appear asking her to go into outer space and help defeat an evil Queen. She takes it well, lol. When she arrives we meet the other crew members: the lovable hippie from the 60’s Lazlo (Tom O’Connor), the MMORPG player Errol (Adam Files), the 1950’s bad-ass Clara (Lindsey Carter), and the scene stealing “cup and ball” Luke (Rachel Grundy). Together they learn a bit about themselves as they prepare to battle Queen Bowsera (Nicole Lee Aiossa) in a space fight that will decide the fate of the galaxy!
Round 1:
As darkness fell in The Brick Theater, old movie trailers for video game movies like Street Fighter and the classic 1984 film The Last Starfighter began to play, along with 80’s montage music in between trailers. Immediately I am smiling. Once FINAL DEFENDERS began, that smile never went away. I don’t want to spoil any of the jokes, even though it is packed with so many. I guess I was an old school gamer, but definitely a geek and I really felt like this play was written for US.
Round 2:
The Brick Game Play festival has been a wonderful way of presenting theatre. With past shows like Galatic Girl: Attack of the Starbarians and Of Dice and Men(also a Dysfunctional Theatre Company show), the production values on these shows and the effects alone are worth the price of admission but ultimately the stories shine. While I highly recommend this show for fellow geeks, just like all great theater, it is universal, and the best part comes in the form of Luke, a character from a time long before Nintendo was created, but where sadly polio was around. Side note: Wii Polio: WORST. GAME. EVER.
Solo Round:
You really do fall in the love with the characters and even though you may think you know how this tale will end, the journey is so much fun. It reminded me of the wonderful animated film “Wreck-It-Ralph”, you can figure out what will happen but dammit those characters are so much fun to watch, you kinda hope it never ends. Seriously, this play is so damn good.
FINISH HIM!
FINAL DEFENDERS is only playing three more times, if you are in the NYC area I highly recommend seeing it. We should not only support local theater but innovative shows like this. With picture-in-picture, 8 bit graphics plus a montage that will stay with you days after you MUST see this. 🙂
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