Dungeons + Drama Nerds

Todd, Nick, and Percy dig into the work of theatre theorist and practitioner Augusto Boal and the techniques of theatre of the oppressed, looking at how we might apply those principles to tabletop role-playing games (and vice versa!). 

Sources:

- Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal, trans. Charles A. and Maria-Odilia Leal McBride

- Games for Actors and Non-Actors - Augusto Boal

- “Theatre for the Less Oppressed than I: Reconsidering Augusto Boal’s Concept of Spect-actor” by Yonghee Lee

- “Recourse to Action: The Renewal of Politics and Theater in Hannah Arendt, Antonin Artaud, and Augusto Boal” - Miguel Balsa, Gestos Nov 2008

- Gaming for Change: Using Role Playing Games in Group Work with Children and Adolescents - Scott Kupferschmidt

- Using Tabletop RPGs for Social Empathy - Joshua Brickley 

- Tabletop RPGs That Recreate Real History, High Society, & War - Coleman Gailloretto 

- Magic, Adventure & Social Participation: Tabletop Role-Playing Games and Their Potential to Promote Social Inclusion and Citizenship - Anne M Goodall

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

The gang explores a secret lab and gets up close and personal with some of the gelatinous clouds they first discovered deep within the BromCom building. What other secrets lie in the old mines beneath Bromwell, PA?

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Todd and Percy chat about two plays in the kids on bikes genre, including the way each play interacts with the conventions of that genre and each play's relation to queerness and monstrosity.

Plays Discussed:

- Wolfcrush (a queer werewolf play) by Haygen-Brice Walker

- The Interrobangers by M Sloth Levine 

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Micah leads the gang to the old town hall and coal museum, where they delve deep into one of the town's secrets.

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

This week, Todd, Percy, and Nick dig into the use of nostalgia in games and in performance, particularly musical theatre, and discuss its mythmaking potential and transformative power. 

Sources:

- Rebecca Ann Rugg “What it used to be: Nostalgia and the State of the Broadway Musical” (2002)

- Steven T. Wright, "Goonieswave: The Rise of Kids-on-Bikes Games" (EGM, 2019)

- Glen Weldon, "Kids On Bikes: The Sci-Fi Nostalgia Of 'Stranger Things', 'Paper Girls' & 'Super 8'" (NPR, 2016)

- Linda Hutcheon and Mario J. Valdés, "Irony, Nostalgia, and the Postmodern: A Dialogue" 

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Hank, Kodi, Fred, and George continue their field trip at BromCom, partake in a disappointing cafeteria lunch, and learn more about Micah Lovelace and her newfound psychic powers. 

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Nick, Todd, and Percy chat about the use of violence in theatre and tabletop games - how it appears, what purposes it serves, and what it might tell us about both arts. 

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Our Kids on Bikes game kicks off with a middle school field trip to Bromwell, Pennsylvania's new silicon chip manufacturing plant, BromCom. Hank, Kodi, Fred, and George terrorize a scientist, investigate a mysterious green light, and find something surprising deep in the heart of BromCom's offices.  

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Nick sits down with CJ Linton, GM of our current Kids on Bikes game, to chat about dramaturgy, GMing, and game design, and how these three practices overlap for him. 

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!

Welcome to Bromwell, Pennsylvania! In this session zero, you'll learn about the town and meet the crew of dirty little weirdos in our upcoming game of Kids on Bikes! 

Dungeons and Drama Nerds is produced by Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak, and Nicholas Orvis, and is mixed and edited by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Our Kids on Bikes game features CJ Linton as the GM, Ella Mock as Kodi Thompson Lee Garcia Smith, Percival Hornak as Hank Boswell, Emma Covert as Fred Hudson, and Esther Yumi Ko as George Privanathan. Kids on Bikes was written by Jonathan Gilmour and Doug Levandowski and published by Hunters Entertainment with Renegade Game Studios and Infectious Play Publishing.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DnDramaNerds, check out cast bios on our website, dungeonsanddramanerds.com/, and tune in next week for another episode of Dungeons and Drama Nerds!