“Sticks & Stones” is an unflinching dive into the mind of Gemma, a young woman sifting through the wreckage of her past while trying to navigate the damage it’s done to her present. The show moves fluidly through different time periods, letting scenes from childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood overlap and echo, all staged within the cluttered landscape of her apartment and her memory.
The design reinforces the show’s fragmented memory structure: glowing blocks mark each timeline, and a red-string-covered corkboard tracks Gemma’s tangled history. A looping pre-show video introduces the relationship already under strain. Some tech cues seemed slightly off, but the concept supports the story’s nonlinear rhythm. The direction keeps the fractured structure from spinning out, guiding the audience through memory with a steady hand.
Shannon Rousseau leads as Gemma with vulnerability and restraint, grounding the shifting timelines with emotional consistency. As Gemma’s memories unravel, her internal dialogue becomes clearer, giving the audience a direct window into the thoughts she never voiced aloud. Florence Matina brings warmth and nuance to Callie, offering a counterbalance to the chaos of the past with moments of gentle, lived-in intimacy. Their chemistry feels real, especially in the quieter beats where subtext speaks louder than dialogue.
Amelia Trollinger and Jonathon Engle portray Gemma’s parents with a disturbing mix of affection and volatility. Astra-Lia England and Jacob Funke, playing her siblings, also rotate into other supporting roles with impressive range and ease.
The tone shifts between tenderness and tension, often in the same breath, creating an emotional rhythm that keeps the audience leaning forward. “Sticks & Stones” doesn’t hide its trauma under metaphor. It lays it bare, asking audiences to witness the patterns we inherit and the courage it takes to break them.
