Yesterday was a tough day here in Minnesota. It began with horrific politically motivated attacks on our state legislators that resulted in two deaths and two people severely injured. It then transitioned into inspiring "No Kings" protests in our state capital and around the country. I ended the day at the theater, seeing a queer Asian story about love in the face of hate and violence, and found great solace there. Sadly, hate and violence are a part of our world that never seems to go away, but the hope is that we can make the voices of love, connection, and community loud enough to drown out the hate.
Stop Kiss, written almost 30 years ago by Asian American playwright and
screenwriter/producer Diana Son, is about two women, in this production Asian American women, who fall in love and are confronted with violence because of it. It's a beautifully written play in two timelines, as funny and sweet as it is tragic and heart-breaking, and
Theater Mu's nearly flawless production is a must-see. Even now. Especially now.
Stop Kiss takes place in the late '90s in the greatest city in the world, New York City, which almost functions as another character. Callie has lived there since college, when into her life comes Sara, who has moved to the city on a fellowship to teach children in Brooklyn. Callie shows Sara around town, and the two become friends, and then something more, despite previous (and current) relationships with men. The action of the play flashes back and forth between two timepoints - before and after a pivotal moment in their relationship and their lives. Soon after their first kiss on a park bench, the women are brutally attacked. We see scenes of Callie and Sara getting to know each other and falling in love, building up to that moment, interspersed with scenes of the fallout from the attack. It ends on a sweet note and we never see the violence, but it hangs over the play like a black cloud.*
I've seen this play once before,
a 2014 production by Fortune's Fool Theatre, with a mostly or all White cast. There's nothing specific in the play or these characters that speaks to their ethnicity, but this is Theater Mu, so they have cast Asian American actors, which adds another layer to the story. Hate crimes against Asian Americans increased alarmingly during the pandemic years, and we know that people who belong to multiple minority groups are doubly at risk of hate and violence. All of that background and context is brought into the play, and makes it a richer story.
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Sara (Kelsey Angel Baehrens) and Callie (Emjoy Gavino)
(photo by Rich Ryan) |
This excellent six-person cast is led by Emjoy Gavino as Callie and Kelsey Angel Baehrens as Sara, and they really couldn't be cuter together. Despite the violence this couple faces, or maybe because of it, it's so wonderful to watch them fall unexpectedly, hesitatingly, awkwardly, charmingly in love, and both actors make it look and feel so natural and believable. They both play the giddy falling in love stage as well as the post-attack tragic part of the play, heart-wrenchingly showcasing a couple that is really at the beginning of their relationship facing a devastating challenge. The talented supporting cast includes Clay Man Soo as Callie's longtime friend-with-benefits George, Moses Ekel as Sara's concerned ex-boyfriend Peter, James Rodriguez as the detective who investigates the hate crime with less empathy than one would like, and Lily Tung Crystal (former Mu artistic director) as a witness to the crime and a nurse.
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Sara (Kelsey Angel Baehrens), Callie (Emjoy Gavino)
and George (Clay Man Soo, photo by Rich Ryan) |
This is only Katie Bradley's third time directing, and she's already proven she can handle scripts complex in both structure and emotion (on top of serving as Mu's interim artistic director this season). The two timelines in this play are from Callie and Sara's meeting through the kiss that stopped, or at least changed, everything, and from that moment of violence forward. The play is neatly constructed switching from one timeline to the next with every scene, both progressing chronologically, so once you get into the rhythm it's quite easy to follow. The play is a cross between a rom-com and a serious drama, and Katie deftly handles both dualities. There are quite a few transitions between scenes and locations, as well as some intricate costume choreography (I love the realistic detail of characters taking off their shoes when they enter the apartment), and it's all done swiftly and gracefully and in character. As two or three actors shift props and set pieces around in the dim light, covered by interesting song choices, they might pause for just a moment to give each other a telling look, adding richness to the story and keeping the momentum flowing.
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the detective (James Rodriguez) questions Callie
(Emjoy Gavino) after the attack (photo by Rich Ryan) |
The thrust stage at Gremlin Theatre has been turned into an authentically lived-in NYC apartment, with doors in brick walls on either side of the stage, a bookcase stuffed with books and tchotchkes, and the living room set-up down front. Set pieces are smoothly and efficiently moved around when the action moves to a hospital room, police station, or other locations, further signified by images on screens hanging from the ceiling. Characters are dressed in casual clothes that don't scream '90s but also aren't exactly current, with frequent changes of a shirt or jacket to show the passage of time. (Scenic design by Erik Paulson, props design by Abbee Warmboe, costume design by Khamphian Vang, sound design by Katharine Horowitz, and lighting design by Karin Olson.)
Days like yesterday make me feel helpless and hopeless. But I believe in the power of theater to create community, engender empathy, start conversations, and show us that we're more alike than we are different. Despite the attempts of this administration to censor them, theaters and artists will continue to tell stories that do all of the above, like this one. The funny, charming, heart-breaking, and heart-breakingly relevant
Stop Kiss continues at Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood through June 29.
