Loaded Gun Theory's new original work The Metal Queen: Kneel Before Her Dark Majesty was inspired, in an indirect way, by a play staged last year by a different Austin theater company. After seeing and loving Capital T Theatre's production of the violent dark comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which featured a mostly-male cast, the creative minds of Loaded Gun Theory wondered "why women couldn't also have a lot of fun wielding guns...and making bad decisions," in the words of co-writer Julie Winston-Thomas.
That thought was the genesis for The Metal Queen, in which women wield guns and make increasingly poor decisions. The dark comedy centers around middle aged mothers Gretchen and Diane; after Gretchen's husband commits suicide, she decides to avoid despair by focusing her energies on a plan to get Diane out of debt by robbing every house in their neighborhood.
Other women who make questionable decisions include Gretchen and Diane's daughters, who use a surveillance drone to aid in an extortion plot that they hope will result in a gig for their heavy metal band. Live footage from the drone and heavy metal music performed by Death by Dronious add to the uniqueness of The Metal Queen.
See The Metal Queen: Kneel Before Her Dark Majesty through September 27 at the Off Center.
