Shay Mace
We first caught Alexis Sakellaris’ Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut show A Stan is Born! back in 2024, and since they have toured the show at festivals across the globe. The show, exploring divas across generations including the ones in Alexis’ personal life who inspired them, will return to Edinburgh this year, alongside a new work-in-progress autobiographical piece, Child Star, digging into the archives of Alexis’ childhood on what they call the ‘German Glee‘. We caught up with Alexis for a pixelated pint to find out what they’ve been up to, and what’s inspired them to bring this new story to the stage.
You can catch Child Star (Work in Progress) at Gilded Balloon Patter House (Dram) from 15:40 (60mins) on August 20 – 30. Tickets are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
You can also catch A Stan is Born! (Encore) at Gilded Balloon Patter House (Dram) from 15:40 (60mins) on August 6 – 16. Tickets are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay: Hi Alexis! We last caught up with you after catching A STAN IS BORN! again at EdFringe 2025, which you’re bringing back for a victory lap this year. Tell us about what you’ve been up to since.
Alexis: YES I remember, you guys gave me my first 5-star review EVER back in 2024 and then again last year, I was over the moon! This past year has been all over the place in a good way: I was lucky enough to take A Stan is Born! to Australia (Adelaide and Melbourne) and then won my very first award at the New York Fringe, which if you’ve seen my show is a really beautiful full circle moment. I also started writing my new show Child Star and previewed it at Brighton Fringe, where it shockingly got nominated for a writing award. Complete insanity!!
Shay: Your new work in-progress show delves into your childhood being cast in Wir Rocken Barcelona, and holding onto a secret. For the uninitiated, what is Wir Rocken Barcelona, and what can we expect to see from the show?
Alexis: OMG I cannot WAIT to share this with you. Wir rocken Barcelona is basically the German Glee, as in it’s the first (and as of yet… the last) German musical TV series. I was cast in it at 15, along with 5 other talented teens, and genuinely thought my career was MADE. But when they flew us out to Barcelona to shoot, I realized: instead of having a script, our show was going to be reality, and our musical abilities became secondary to our individual trauma. See, every other kid had a “thing”, a diverse characteristic that production highlighted (one girl used a wheelchair, one boy was Asian, one girl was Black) while I struggled with being… “international”?? I wasn’t out at the time, and was harboring more stuff I wouldn’t dare talk about on national television. What follow are some hilarious shenanigans and many clips of me desperately overcompensating…
Shay: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Alexis: For Child Star, we start off strong and simple with the actual opening sequence of Wir rocken Barcelona, comedically translated with some creative captioning. It intros the cast and recaps the show’s mission, so the audience is bathed in Spanish imagery (lovely), German sounds (ugh) and English text (lol). I want this to feel reminiscent of watching TV as a kid, when you were so excited for the next episode to start IN REAL TIME cuz there was no streaming to keep you on track. Those opening recaps were crucial, and I especially looked forward to the theme songs. Those were THE SHIT. Once that’s done, I run onstage to start MY opening number, a frantic, anxiety-ridden banger that I hope pays homage to the iconic theme songs of our childhoods (Best of Both Worlds, That’s So Raven, I Found a Way, Leave It All To Me…)
Shay: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Alexis: I want people to have LOADS of fun with this, I’m laying this experience bare because it’s cringeworthy, silly and ultimately so entertaining to watch me as a closeted tween thrust onto the (German) world stage. It’s my way of reclaiming a narrative I felt so powerless over for so long, of honoring my younger self and letting him know that we spun this hay into gold. I also really want us examine the way we treat children, especially in high pressure environments like a TV set. What does it mean to mine a child’s lived experience for mass consumption? To expose them to the public eye, expect so much of them, and then discard them when we’re done? What happens afterwards? I keep wondering what could’ve been… As much as Child Star is a fun recounting of a silly experience, it’s also serves as a cautionary tale.
Shay: What journey has the show been on to find itself at EdFringe 2026?
Alexis: PHEW it’s been a bit of a whirlwind for Child Star so far! I had this dream of writing my new show while performing my old show in Australia, but of course that did NOT happen. I got back from my travels in April and had Brighton Fringe in May, so I basically wrote the whole show in a month. STRESSFUL AF. But I’m trying to think long-term with this show, I’m work-in-progressing this year so I can perfect it for a proper run next year. It’s a slow but steady process of figuring out what works and evolving as a comedian and a writer. In a way, this show has been percolating internally for a while, maybe even since I was on that TV show! I’ve been posting clips from the show online as well, some have gone viral and really motivate me to continue working on the show.
Shay: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Alexis: I’m really excited to transition between solo shows and give myself grace to try out new ideas. It’s a bittersweet goodbye to my debut A Stan is Born!, which has given me so much and become such a well-oiled machine. But I’m ready to give birth to my new baby Child Star too! I’m also equally ecstatic and terrified about two new nights I’m creating and hosting: MCU (Musical Comedians Unite!) and THE CVNTY AWARDS! MCU is a musical comedy line-up, which I started when I realized there’s no regular musical comedy night at Fringe OR in London! Utter travesty. CVNTY AWARDS is a parody awards show honoring the CVNTIEST the Fringe has to offer. It’s inspired by the Las Culturistas Culture Awards (very niche, I know) which started as a joke on a podcast and then became an ACTUAL awards show on Bravo. Come have a blast with us!!!
Shay: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Alexis: Due to the wide array of shows (and the fact that I’m doing a sober year LOL) let’s make it a Zombie Mocktail! That contains orange, pineapple and lime juices as well as 3 different rum alternatives and syrups. I’m a total sweet tooth and also suffer from decision paralysis, so just give me EVERYTHINGGG.
A reminder, you can catch Child Star (Work in Progress) at Gilded Balloon Patter House (Dram) from 15:40 (60mins) on August 20 – 30. Tickets are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
You can also catch A Stan is Born! (Encore) at Gilded Balloon Patter House (Dram) from 15:40 (60mins) on August 6–16. Tickets are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Isabella Pettite
