‘Stop Kiss’ to be performed by CSB/SJU theater department

“Stop Kiss,” a play about two women falling in love, will be presented March 30-April 2 and April 6-8 by the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University theater department.

Show times are 7:30 p.m. March 30-April 1, 2 p.m. April 2, and 7:30 p.m. April 6-8 at the Gorecki Family Theater, Benedicta Arts Center, CSB. The April 2 performance is a special free matinee, but you must register for that performance; tickets are required for the remaining shows. Cost is $10 for adults, $7 for CSB/SJU faculty, staff and seniors, and $5 for students.

Please note that “Stop Kiss” has adult themes and mature language, and is recommended for those 18 years of age and older.

The play was written by American playwright Diana Son. “Stop Kiss” won the GLAAD Media Award for Best New York Production, and Son won the Berilla Kerr Award for playwriting. “Stop Kiss” has been produced at hundreds of professional theaters and colleges across the country.

“Stop Kiss” was initially produced off-Broadway in 1998 at the Public Theater in New York City. The CSB/SJU version of the play is set in 2010.

Sara (played by CSB junior Breana Burggraff) and Callie (CSB senior Beth Cassidy) meet in New York City. Sarah had recently moved to the city from St. Louis to teach third grade; Callie is a traffic reporter riding high above the traffic in a helicopter. Both women are in their mid-20s.

The play begins when Callie agrees to babysit Sara’s cat. As the play progresses, a deepening level of friendship and attraction develop between the women. Both women have had previous relationships with men; however, neither has experienced falling in love with someone of the same gender.

Sara and Callie are walking through New York City’s West Village when they share their first kiss. This leads to an attack on the women by an angry bystander, in which Sara is terribly injured (the attack is not shown on stage) and put in a coma.

Both of their former boyfriends — George (Callie’s on-again and off-again boyfriend, played by SJU junior Kevin Duong) and Peter (Sara’s ex-fiancé, played by SJU first-year Zach Kennedy) — return to the scene as relationships are explored.

“It’s a beautiful story of two women who, through falling in love, discover a purpose as well as the true meaning of courage,” said Kaarin Johnston, professor of theater at CSB and SJU who is directing the play.  

The story is told out of chronological order. The first scene is set in August when the two characters meet. The second scene is set the following spring at the hospital after the attack.

The other main actors include SJU junior Jacob Laundergan, playing the police detective investigating the attack; and CSB sophomore Marisela Weber, who plays Mrs. Winsley, a witness to the attack. Weber also plays a small role of Sara’s nurse.