A beautifully written piece that captures a generation’s temptation to “save things for good,” under glass, on a shelf, in mint condition… (instead of daring to be bold enough to shamelessly savor and enjoy;) and its link to the fear of commitment, or tainting something of value. Casey comes to understand that our lives can only grow richer when we’re brave enough to pick a street, and fight like crazy to stick together.

This comic monologue works as a lovely "If, Then" conditional statement. It's a very comforting and logical and precise struture.

Credit playwright Emily McClain for providing a lot of detail about protagonist Casey in the first part of "Sticker Guilt." Casey tells us directly their relationship, and struggle, with accepting stickers as gifts. It's a clear character story.

But then McClain digs deeper in the second part of the monologue. We see how the details about Casey's interactions with sticker reflect on deeper personal issues. "If" Casey responds like then, "Then" we see deeper.

It's a nice, straightforward structure.

"Sticker Guilt" is a funny-yet-sad-yet-alarmingly-relatable monologue about fear of commitment. I mean, don't we all have anxiety over where to stick those big fancy stickers? Best of all, the monologue is written so it can be performed by absolutely anyone, and it SHOULD be performed. It's great, and the final line is such a perfect, heartbreaking summation of what the character has been trying to say the whole time.