My name is Evan Parry, and I’m the director of She Kills Monsters, as well as the production’s fight director. I did a lot of research on the mid-1990’s (despite having lived through them!), most of which was based on all the cultural referencing which takes place in the show- popular TV shows like E.R. and Quantum Leap are referred to or quoted. I also gave the design team period research from pop culture, and was in turn directed toward interesting influences by them, including the movie Empire Records, which I really liked and which worked its way into our conversations.
I gave the cast a series of what are called Source Work assignments, which encouraged their own cultural research, as well as doing work outside of rehearsals to help foster character relationships. This included listening to music ( such as Alanis Morissete, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Flaming Lips) and watching movies (that included Mortal Kombat, Lord of Illusions, Tank Girl, Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of The Dragon, and Clueless) from 1995 and reflections on some of their own high school experiences.