Review of local theater production 'Stilt Girl'

by Ace R.

With our own drama club hard at work on the fall musical, Anastasia, it's nice to also take a look at other local live theaters such as the Chapin Theatre Company which recently put on the show “Stilt Girl” by Lou Clyde.

Stilt Girl is a comedic live action play set in a small Air B&B in New York during the modern day. Main character Izzy and her best friend Stephon are two young people trying to make it big in the world of live theater. Izzy and Stephon work part-time cleaning AirBnBs. When Izzy ends up needing a place to stay she ends up squatting in the AirBnB her and Stephon were cleaning. When two renters Debi and Tina show up as renters in that same AirBnB for a celebratory vacation, the circumstance results in some unlikely friends and futures for everyone. This show is uplifting and hilarious.

Above all, the play has broad appeal. Stilt Girl is a wonderful show for any high schooler to the oldest of senior citizens. It caters to all audiences and is very well written.

Secondly, the pacing is well done, never for a moment did I feel like I couldn’t follow the story but I remained on the edge of my seat with excitement for the next words.

The acting was overwhelmingly emotional and the real Debra Kiser, who played “Debi,” had me in tears one minute and laughing them away the next. From the set, to the casting, to acting, to overall effect this show was one hundred percent worth it. The actors portrayed their characters as if they went up there and all they had to do was be themselves. Everyone seemed very relaxed and prepared and professional. An alarm went off during the show but everyone managed to remain in character. To go along with that the characters were incredibly well written and diverse along with the character relationships, age gap friendships, sexual orientation, and personalities.

Ms.Wrona, who actually got to see the show, said overall she thought the casting was extremely well done particularly with Zanna Mills, but on the other hand while she loves Josh Kern and has even casted him before she would have loved to see Stephon played by an openly gay and flamboyant actor but nonetheless he did a good job with the role. She also says the set design was absolutely perfect to which I agree and quoted a reviewer in saying it was “perfectly bland” and also showed love to the small details.

I also spoke to Ms.White, the AHS theatre teacher, who did not get to see the show mentioned she has heard incredible things and says she would definitely go see this show.

Stars out of ten: 9/10

Final recommendation: If you can get your hands on the script or find out someone is putting on the show I would recommend you go see it.

Unfortunately no one is currently putting on this show, but it is new and locally written so we should give it some time before we see a huge rise in popularity but there definitely will be.