Samantha Westervelt is an actor, a writer, and a musician raised in Louisville. She shared with LEO a linear account of her nonlinear life in theatre, music, and film—a life that led her to her debut feature film “Sour Party,” which premieres at Baxter Avenue Theatres Filmworks on Friday, February 28.
Westervelt attended the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School for the first two years of high school, before transferring to St. Francis (now Francis Parker School of Louisville). “St. Francis is such a special place,” she said. “Having more individual attention and the ability to follow my interests has been so invaluable to me as I’ve progressed in my career—and I’ve followed several career paths.”
From St. Francis, she felt so well prepared for the world that rather than a traditional university, she enrolled at Toronto Film School to study film production. Soon after leaving Toronto, she returned to college—this time, Hunter College in New York—to study philosophy. “As someone interested in film, and specifically in acting, studying philosophy allowed me to get to the heart of the things that make us human.”
After Hunter College, Westervelt moved to Pittsburgh, where she started working in film. She started writing music as an additional creative outlet and soon wanted to perform her music outside of Pennsylvania. Her younger brother was living in Los Angeles at the time, as was a friend and former classmate from St. Francis. “You always feel connected to the people from [your home city]. It helps you feel like you’re at home no matter where you are.”
She moved again, this time from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, where she immediately enrolled in acting class at Playhouse West in North Hollywood. “After about a year and a half of doing that and doing short films, I was feeling like angsty. I was so desperate to create something that felt like mine,” she said. “When you’re at the mercy of other people’s writing… I was on a set for something that I was like, this is bad. I’m not going to be proud of this.”
“I lit a candle and I was like, Universe, what am I supposed to do with my life? And my dear friend texted me 30 minutes later.” Her friend was calling to ask her to start a band. So in 2016, Westervelt began playing bass guitar in The Pinks, before starting her own punk band, Egg Drop Soup, and then in 2021, began playing with Death Valley Girls.
After years of recording and touring, Westervelt’s friends Amanda and Michael Drexton approached her about acting in their short film “Succulent Thieves.” It would be her first time acting after almost seven years. “And I thought, sure, why not? That sounds fun. I kind of know how to do that.”
Although originally written as a short film, the Drextons thought “Succulent Thieves” would be an effective cold open for a feature-length film they had been inspired to make. That film became “Sour Party,” the feature-length debut of co-writers (with Westervelt) and co-directors Amanda and Michael Drexton. Amanda Drexton is also a co-star, while Michael Drexton is also the editor.
From Louisville to Malibu and back
For many people, if things do not go exactly to plan, we feel like we have failed at life. Westervelt said that the idea of failure was the impetus for the film. “There’s something really powerful in giving in to moments of sadness, weakness or failure and examining what that really feels like.”
“Sour Party” is a collection of all our follies and failures throughout our artistic lives, mostly centered around Los Angeles and our experiences out there, trying to make it in an industry that is 99% failure.” Westervelt said. The film explores how two friends reconcile with their own failures enough to be able to cope with their respective traumas. “We wrote something I think is really funny and very absurd, but there’s a lot of hidden depths to it.”
The visual design of “Sour Party” is reminiscent of 1990s slacker films like “Singles” and “Dazed and Confused” with elements of 2000s road trip films like “Superbad” and the “Harold & Kumar” series. Despite its narrative heritage, “Sour Party” inverts the traditionally boyish approach of stoner films. The friendship between Gwen and James never involves finding a boyfriend or reaching for romance.
The story takes place entirely within the same day, following Gwen (Westervelt) and James (Amanda Drexton), best friends, on a mission to collect $150 so Gwen can buy her sister a gift for her baby shower. “So it’s this odyssey going from Echo Park all the way to Malibu, where this party is,” Westervelt said. “Along the way, they try to scrounge up money from people who they think owe them money, so… Gwen can save face in front of her family, who she is constantly failing.”
“If you’re someone who just wants to go to a movie and laugh, you can totally have that experience,” Westervelt said of the film’s occasional slapstick and gross-out humor. “But if you’re someone who likes to look for a deeper meaning in comedy (or in anything that you see or do), you will totally find that too.”
Throughout the writing process, Westervelt was concerned that her own character would be unlikable and that audiences would hate her. “But that’s part of your job as an actor, to tap into those parts of yourself that maybe make you feel uncomfortable,” she said. “It’s been a really wild ride of a lot of different lives.”
“Sour Party” will make its Louisville premiere at Baxter Avenue Theatres Filmworks. “Baxter is a cornerstone of my youth,” Westervelt said. The screening is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 28, followed by screenings at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. every day until Thursday, March 6. After the screening, Westervelt and production designer Lauren Argo (who herself was born in Cynthiana and now lives in Louisville) will have a discussion and host a Q&A session.
As a response to the recent flooding across Kentucky, Westervelt and Argo will also host a raffle for three props from “Sour Party” to help raise funds for flood relief. Raffle winners will receive free passes to Baxter along with the props.
This article appears in Feb 14-27, 2025.