![]() *This article appears in the April 16, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Yass!” repeatedly, with gusto, until the final knight left the ring. They had all inspired a woman in the audience to holler, “Yassss, Queen. “Forget not I have inside me the blood of the king,” she said, and “I am queen here, and decision lies with the queen alone, not with a man,” and “I can slay a man where he stands.” I can’t be sure which line Zapcic meant. I overhear a little girl in pink leggings loudly correct her mother as they pose for pictures: “She’s a queen, not a princess.”Īt the show’s end, Medieval Times’ publicist stops me to ask if I felt it - the line Zapcic mentioned, that shot of feminist adrenaline? Over the course of two hours, in which I picked a chicken carcass clean, Queen Doña Maria Isabella made many weighty declarations. The King’s Royalty Package is now the Queen’s Royalty Package, and eventually all the merchandise that says KING will say QUEEN, I’m told. ![]() Meanwhile, there are small changes everywhere. They’ve come for the chicken and the spectacle. 149 Polito Ave Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 Set inside an 11th-century style castle, the two-hour tournament begins. Birthday parties, families, co-workers, one guy who came alone and maybe just wants garlic bread - wearing paper crowns and big grins, they all stop and pose for pictures with Zapcic. Medieval Times’ first ever inaugural Queen Doña Maria Isabella, played by New Jersey native Erin Zapcic.Īt 3:47, the doors open, and the slow trickle of guests who paid $63 for entry begins. She pulls the huge gold-and-crimson gown over her riding pants, touches up her makeup, ties her hair into a regal ponytail, and puts on a pair of ruby-colored earrings she bought on Amazon. Then, with less than an hour to showtime, she heads to the ladies’ room - the nicest one - to get dressed. As she eats, she tells me about her cat, Joker, and her mom, whom she calls the Leslie Knope of her seaside Jersey hometown. We cross the parking lot to a café, where Zapcic grabs a Whole30-approved lunch. ![]() “I add a little bit more color to my speaking voice.” She illustrates by dropping an octave and booming out, “Ho.” “I have to fill this whole arena from that chair.” She points to the throne at the very top of the stadium seats. This meant making her movements “more heavy, and moving with conviction and not apologizing for taking up space,” Zapcic explains. For eight hours a day, she practiced carrying herself like a queen - Medieval Times empowerment training, if you will. Rehearsals for the role started in November. The Knights entering the arena represented by each region of the realm. ![]()
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