A Bold and Surprisingly Humorous Late Night Opener — STOP KISS at UHM

The Late Night season in the Lab Theatre at Kennedy–UHM opens with Stop Kiss, by American playwright Diana Son. The play, about the developing relationship between two women in New York and the violence inspired by their first kiss, presents the audience with a modern, witty, realistic story. The scenes alternate back and forth between the moments leading up to and following the devastating hate crime. This is no easy project to undertake, as the script requires serious investment for the promised payoff. It’s a bold choice for Late Night, which offers the director only the minimal in terms of budget and design capability.

Director Amanda Stone seemed to be going for a balance between the two sides of the conflict—the light and the dark—in the way she directed the play. The structure has the potential to be quite powerful. The audience should fall in love with the characters as the characters fall in love with each other, while the constant interruption by a predetermined future of sadness, confusion, and pain, the outcome unknown, provides intensely dramatic irony. In this particular production, the pre-crime scenes have a sitcom-like quality, eliciting a near-constant flow of laughter from the audience, while the post-crime scenes, with dramatic music and lighting, match in style the somber and serious content.

The female leads, Brook A. Costello as Callie and Karissa J. Murrell Adams as Sara, work really well together as a modern-day female comic duo, with each finding a contrasting and authentic character to play. They share moments that are funny, friendly, awkward, dramatic, and more funny. 

What I missed, watching Callie and Sara’s many scenes together, was a sense of passion developing between them. Their “romance” played as superficial. Where were the drifting limbs, the subtlety, the natural chemistry that draws two people together, both emotionally and physically? Where was the flirtation? Their moments of attraction felt too set-up, too stagey, too sitcom for me to invest in their journey on the level required. And that’s a shame, because the production, while compelling at times, ultimately didn’t capture me, mainly for this reason. I could see and understand where it was going, but I didn’t feel what I was supposed to feel.

The supporting characters add a refreshing presence to their scenes. Michael Hardy plays George, Callie’s long-term “friend with benefits.” There we get some chemistry. The “triangle” scenes were interesting and dynamic.

Sharon Doyle’s Mrs. Winsley, a witness to the attack, played well against Murray Husted’s Detective Cole. Her small side story gets teased out by the detective’s questioning, creating tension and dimensionality for their characters. Tyler Nichols has similar success as Peter, Sara’s ex from back home in St. Louis.

At one hour and forty minutes with no intermission, this is a long show for Late Night, though not an unreasonable length for one sitting. This production, however—because of the numerous pauses between scenes, for minutes at a time, adding up to a hefty fraction of the overall show—drags. It was a little deadly. These scene changes could easily have happened more smoothly and quickly if that had been a priority. The costume design worked against flow and build, since Callie, who’s in almost every scene, also had a new costume for almost every scene. It’s theatre, where timing is everything. Certain elements, such as costume and sound design, would probably work much better in film than live on stage.

It’s important to remember that this is Late Night theatre—student-run and experimental in nature. While it may be easy to criticize a finished product, it’s also exciting to see passionate students really going for something big and important, trying things out, whetting their skills. There was nothing frivolous about this show. It’s a solid start to the Late Night season, and worth seeing for the story, the integrity, and the committed performances all around. And besides, judging by the opening night crowd, the show’s a success. The seats were full and the laughs resounded. The only thing missing, as far as I could tell, were the tears.

For more information, see the Kennedy Theatre Website or the Facebook Event Page.