Star Stone is in her Villain Era
Star’s work exists in the intersection of education and entertainment, using the theater as a classroom and the audience left with a desire for self-inquiry or to engage in public discourse.
Star merges the disciplines of standup comedy, musical satire, poetry, and character work to draw social and political commentary. Using comedy as the primary vehicle to address urgent issues, she’s currently exploring the ethics of technology, the wellness industry, reproductive justice, and gender equality. She is interested in interrogating our usage of social media and its effect on our mental health. And, she aims to put survivor’s voices and perspectives first in all my work and create from this lens and viewpoint.
As an advocate for survivors of gender-based violence, Star investigates internalized misogyny and the perpetuation of rape culture and how it manifests in our culture.
See Star Stone in…
Villain Era at Caveat on October 27th.
What were you like as a teen?
As a pre-teen, I LOVED Bernadette Peters and re-watched the stage version of Into The Woods like at least a million times. I was a theater kid and performed in plays/musicals and went to theater camp. I also LOVED Rent (and I memorized the entire thing) And then I got into John Cameron Mitchell and Hedwig and the Angry Inch- I’m talking 13/14 years old here though. I’m not sure at what age I discovered Margaret Cho, but it sparked something for me and I was like who is this, what is this, this is everything. Can you grow up and be this? (Yes)
Did you have an un-sexy starter job?
MMM.. It was totes sexy (I think wearing red suits as a Page at CBS is Sexy), It’s giving business core. In most of my jobs I had a uniform, I don’t hate uniforms. I’m not mad at it. My takeaway was quite literally “Get me out of here”, I don’t want to do this in this way- and not the job but the industry. Which is what I did. I took space from pursuing acting/performing for a few years and then I started finding more unconventional jobs (or they found me?) and I actually do talk about some of that in my first solo show. My transition back to performing came through the poetry and spoken word community which led to the creation of my first show, and then that led me back to UCB which eventually led me to standup.
What do you consider to be your biggest comedy achievement to date?
Receiving an email response from an individual I respect and admire. And then being awarded funding from their foundation. This is not specific to comedy, but it is a meaningful experience and I am grateful.
When you were coming up in comedy, what helped you stick with it?
I write and perform solo theater that blends disciplines of standup, storytelling, music, and characters. So, when I was starting, I went to UCB and Groundlings, I didn’t see much of a path in terms of solo shows like the kind that I was creating, but I was absolutely inspired by the character work, sketch, and improv skills of the performers that were up and coming in my year and most went onto SNL and similar. It wasn’t until I went to Edinburgh Fringe that I was like – oh- there’s a whole community of us. It was the first time where I thought “oh, I see how these people are doing this, I see a career path and sort of can see where I can take this.”
Have you ever dealt with trolls?
Oh have I. I wrote a whole show about that called Villain Era where I talk about dealing with trolls for over 5 years online. My funniest memory though, of something in person, was when a guy was yelling “I can’t hear you” and I was literally making a joke just before that about senior citizens–it was perfect timing to address it 😉
On your deathbed, what transcendent advice would you croak at a young comedian?
Oh wow! Now I am anxious and can’t think clearly to form a complete thought.
What specific things should a novice comic do to shape their voice?
It’s so important to understand your worldview and your own unique perspective. If you try to write for laughs, it just doesn’t work. Write what you know. Write your observations down, as they come to you. If you’re not into observational comedy, maybe you’re more into narrating a story that happened to you and that’s great too. Write your story down and find the moments in it that are interesting to you!
Was there one person who inspired you to go into comedy?
Not necessarily in the comedy world, but in the solo theater world: Kristina Wong and Sarah Jones.
What is your go-to show or movie when you’ve had a bad day?
Right now, I am watching Jessica Kirson’s “shorts” on YouTube. Okay, that sounds… that’s not what I mean it to be–its like the little short videos, you know what I mean.
