Aabria Iyengar back on Broadway as Twenty-Sided Tavern’s first guest DM

This February, acclaimed actual play performer Aabria Iyengar will return to the stage, taking up the Dungeon Master mantle in The Twenty-Sided Tavern. The off-Broadway show uses the base mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons, infusing the performance with high-energy improv comedy and audience participation.

A performer and comics author who’s become a titan of the developing actual play industry through her work on Dimension 20, Critical Role, Pixel Circus, and her own production, Worlds Beyond Number, Iyengar graced New York City’s Stage 42 late last year as a cast member, playing the archetypal role of “Spellcaster.” In the show, audience members can select player characters for the performers from a number of pre-generated choices. Throughout the show, the characters improvise based on audience callouts and choices made through mobile-phone-based voting and physical games.

“Aabria has an unparalleled ability to create magic at the table,” said David Carpenter, co-creator of The Twenty-Sided Tavern. “As a featured player, she brought depth, humor, and heart to her role as the Spellcaster. We’re thrilled to have her return, not only to reprise that role, but to guide our audience on entirely new adventures as our first Guest Dungeon Master.”

While some of her most popular work has been done in pre-recorded settings, Iyengar has ample experience performing live. Last year, she facilitated a live show at Gen Con to debut Wizards of the Coast’s Sigil virtual tabletop, and masterfully conducted a tale to veteran actual players and voice actors in front of a packed room of hundreds, in spite of technical glitches. This will also not be the first time Iyengar is engaging with the audience-choice mechanics in The Twenty-Sided Tavern, as she ran Adventurers for Kamala in 2024 to raise funds for the candidate’s presidential campaign, using used the same vote-based technology to influence the direction of the story.