Don’t call Diana Son’s 1998 play Stop Kiss a political piece.
It’s a love story. The first time Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson, assistant
professor of theater at Illinois College, read the last scene of Stop Kiss, she gasped. Since
that moment three years ago, she has wanted to direct the play. This
Friday, she gets her chance when Illinois College’s
Theatreworks’ stages the production. Son’s thought-provoking work centers on two
women: Callie, a street-smart New York City traffic reporter, and Sara, a
Midwestern girl moving to the big city to teach elementary school. An
opposites attract-type friendship develops between the two straight women.
The friendship slowly progresses to a strong attraction and then the kiss.
The play revolves around the kiss with alternating timelines: the leadup to
the kiss and the violent aftermath. “In doing some research, I came across an
interview with the playwright, and, when asked, ‘Is this a political
play?,’ her response was, ‘I wouldn’t call this a play
about a hate crime or gay-bashing — I would call this play a love
story,’ ” Thibodeaux-Thompson says. “I was so drawn to these characters,”
Thibodeaux-Thompson says. “It’s a love story. When they
discover this attraction for each other, they tap dance around it and each
other for about half the play. I think we, as an audience, can relate to
that.” Abi Wurdeman, a MacMurray College student, portrays
Callie. The role is challenging, Thibodeaux-Thompson explains, because of
the alternating timelines, shifting psychological moods, and scenes that
start in the middle of a conversation. The character of Sara, played by IC
student Juliane Johnson, also presents challenges because she evolves from
a Midwesterner into a New Yorker. The play runs the gamut of emotions from
lightheartedness to heartbreak, and Thibodeaux-Thompson confesses that she
still gasps when she reads the final scene despite reading the play over
and over since the first rehearsal in late December. “I hope the audience is moved in some way,
whether it’s laughing or mortified,” Thibodeaux-Thompson says.
“My hope for [them] is that they can relate and connect with the
characters.”
Stop Kiss opens at 7:30
p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, at the Sibert Theatre, in Illinois College’s
McGaw Fine Arts Center. The run continues with performances at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 25; Thursday, March 2; and Friday, March 3. A matinee is
presented at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 5. After each Friday performance, the
cast and director will participate in discussion featuring two guest
respondents: Beth Capo, assistant professor of English at IC, and the Rev.
Betty Sue Sherrod of Jacksonville’s Congregational Church. For ticket
information, call 217-245-3471.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2006.
