Theater and Literature Collide

Hey everyone!

Recently, I finished A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann.

Honestly, I originally picked it up because of the pretty sprayed edges 😁

It was marketed as a book where evil actors rule over the world like gods from their magical theater, and a girl must infiltrate their ranks to defeat them. So going in, I thought I knew what I was getting: a fantasy book with a theater setting.

But it was so much more than that.

Theater wasn’t just a backdrop — it was woven into the entire story. Through all the little theater-kid details, you could tell Shannon has done her fair share of theater (and I looked it up later — she did theater throughout high school!).

It had everything: the fourth wall as an actual magical element, the terrifying stage manager, the book being divided into acts and scenes instead of chapters, an intermission, an encore, and so much more.

Throughout the book, I kept noticing that some dialogue was written like a script, with character names before their lines (for example: RIVEN: Hello.). But not every chapter was written that way…

And that becomes important later.

As a theater lover, I was definitely geeking out a little bit.

But beyond all the hidden theater details, this book also had a super cute romance, a gripping plot, and surprisingly deep themes woven throughout the story.

A Stage Set for Villains explores questions about what it means to be alive, free will, and the boxes we put ourselves in to fit into the world around us.

These were some of my favorite quotes related to the theme:

“You can be many things, dear heart, but you cannot be fewer.”

“If you have to saw all your edges to fit, you’re probably in the wrong puzzle.”

All this to say: I 10/10 recommend A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann.

Thanks for reading! See you in two weeks!

Abby Henderson

P.S. While I was reading A Stage Set for Villains, my family and I happened to go see The Cursed Child in Minneapolis. Being inside the Orpheum’s beautiful theater felt like I had stepped straight into the world of the book.