Review: THE WHITE CHIP at Florida Studio Theater

Another Florida premiere brought to us in Florida Studio Theatre Bowne’s Lab, White Chip brings highly charged raw emotion to the stage. No stone is left unturned in the trials of our main character, Steven, and his journey from being a wild young party boy to a full-blown alcoholic and back to sobriety, all within 90 minutes.

The story opens and Steven brings forth the highlights (or lowlights) of his young years. He started drinking at 12, kept up with his peers throughout high school and college and seemed to be the life of the party! In his professional life (in the theatre) he is very successful and seems to be able to carry his addiction as it starts to control him, instead of the other way around. By the time he has realized it, his life of the party-boy act is no longer charming, and he is left alone with no job, no friends and everyone has turned away from him. At this point in the story he is only 28!

The candor and joviality that strikes throughout the story is well balanced with a heavy sadness that underlies this tragedy. If we weren’t laughing along with him, we would be crying instead, which I did end up doing at the conclusion of this story as he looks forward to the rest of his life as a sober man. Steven’s “wake-up calls” include bodily injuries, DUI’s, severe car accidents, lost time, i.e. blackouts, and he continues to be stymied and unable to stop drinking. The excuses for his antics build up and start to surround him, so that he is not able to even get out and see beyond to help anyone, including himself.

Luckily, he does eventually make it with the help of a large community of support from Detox, Alcoholic Anonymous Meetings (of all ages), and his family. One of the highlight's  was when Steven attends a Jewish AA meeting, and they explain to him the exact science of not drinking (90 days, dopamine, etc.). This tongue in cheek moment is what propels him to stay sober moving forward—the science of the matter. This is a perfect example of the humor of this serious subject being used to propel this sad tale!

Statistically, one in three households in the US are affected by someone with an addiction. The state of Florida is number two in the US for drug overdose deaths and is just a small part of the 46 million people that are impacted by addiction annually. Sean Daniels, the Director, Playwright and Scenic Director for The White Chip has struck upon and brought forth a subject in this work that is close to all of us.

White Chip plays at Florida Studio Theatre through April 12th.
Tickets are available, but limited due to high interest in this show. The White Chip - Florida Studio Theatre

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