Stone Tape Party

The party is already well underway when the audience walks into the Sprenger Theatre. The cast of Stone Tape Party is drinking, dancing, laughing, and singing along to the Counting Crows, as audience members are immediately welcomed to the party. A guy in a robe is chasing a girl in her underwear, and everyone is taking shots. It feels like a genuine house party full of twenty-somethings.

The party is a birthday celebration for Aedan (played by Ariana Almajan). But Aedan is not there. Aedan is dead. However, Aedan’s ghost returns to the house the night of the party, still drawn to her old home and friends.

Aedan used to live in this particular group house with Rich (Aubri O’Connor), Basie (Ben Calman), Jodie (Jill Tighe), and Dusty (Jack Novak). They’re a lot like the gang from Seinfeld, if Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer were all in their 20s, lived in a group house, drank heavily, and took lots of drugs.

The banter between these characters is hilarious, fast-paced, and quick-witted. Again, very much like Seinfeld.

Stone Tape Party
by Danny Rovin
90 minutes
at Sprenger – Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
Details and tickets

If you have ever lived in a group house (especially in your 20s), then the characters and experiences of Stone Tape Party will feel very familiar to you. Jodie is in the throngs of unrequited loved. Basie just wants to listen to jazz and get laid. Rich is working two jobs and selling drugs to pay the bills. Dusty wants to move away, but his plans are interrupted the night that Aedan’s ghost appears.

It may sound depressing, but it’s really comedy gold. Even the scenes of heartbreak make you laugh. “I told my parents about you,” Dusty’s girlfriend (played by Casey Leffue) screams at him. “I even changed my Facebook status for you!”