Theater Club's brave new drama a sad, sweet, affecting love story
By MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer 06/22/01
Jolyn Duncan is Callie and Zsa Mandvill is Sara in "Stop Kiss." LARA NEEL / Tulsa World
People shouldn't try to read too much into the general storyline of "Stop Kiss": Girl meets girl, acquaintance turns into attraction, and a kiss results in tragic violence. Girls interrupted.
This new work by Theater Club, created by playwright Diana Son, is not a gay play. Yes, it revolves around a kiss that sets off an ugly gay-bashing incident, but Son does not veer off into a politically charged statement based on this certainly ripe situation.
"Stop Kiss" is, at its core, a sad, sweet, affecting love story, and in the capable hands of director Vern Stefanic -- who told Thursday's opening night audience that this is "an important play" -- it is a story told well. Well enough that it should appeal to audiences across all dividing lines, such as gender or sexual preference.
Which it appears may already be the case, as Theater Club is considering extending its run with additional shows, as they are filling their 54-seat theater quickly. More details are available by calling 857-9154.
Callie (a fabulous, nuanced performance by Jolyn Duncan) is a traffic reporter for a 24-hour news radio station in New York. She's been at the job for several years, is lucky enough to have a rent-controlled apartment she inherited, and she and a gaggle of friends frequently venture out to ethnic restaurants and late-night clubs for a good time.
George (Jeff Murrin in a witty turn), is a friend from college who she occasionally sleeps with, though neither has any romantic interest in the other beyond being close friends. The relationship is a good example of the veil of flippant passivity that keeps Callie at a safe distance from life.
Sara (a hard-working effort by Zsa Mandvill) is a young teacher who's just moved to New York from St. Louis after winning a fellowship to teach elementary school children in the Bronx (as George quips, "What did the losers get?"). She's sharing a small apartment with a couple, but she can't keep her cat there, and Callie is a friend of a friend of an old friend.
Their first meeting -- Sara bringing the cat to Callie's place -- should be very casual, but it's made awkward in a scene that is poorly written, and both women are left looking like they're trying too hard. It's the only scene in the play that Son's solid, realistic dialogue doesn't flow naturally.
Once past this flawed opening, the two make a friendly connection that grows until we see these two women, both 30ish, realizing strengths in each other that they desire. Sara admires Callie's independence in the big city. Callie wishes she had a fervor about anything matching the kind that Sara has for educating her young students.
A sexual undertone develops early on in this mutual friendly attraction between two straight women -- Sara left a boyfriend behind in St. Louis -- and Duncan carries these emotions off beautifully in her body language, gestures and facial expressions.
Mandvill is not quite up to this task. While she makes her character seem sincere about her teaching, convincing in her naivete about New York and has a perky common sense about life in general, when Sara suggests that she and Callie go to a lesbian bar, the request comes from left field. Nothing in her manner has previously suggested that she wants to take the relationship to another level -- especially homosexuality. "I like you" isn't on the printed page in this play, it has to come naturally.
The play is a demanding one for this pair, as Son's structure gives them 23 separate scenes. They alternate between scenes (Nos. 1, 3, 5, etc.) in their budding relationship leading to a passionate kiss with scenes (Nos. 2, 4, 6, etc.) that show the aftermath of a violent gay-bashing attack that occurs as a result of that first kiss.
This has Duncan and Mandvill meeting for the first time, followed by a scene in which Duncan is interrogated by a blunt detective (Kevin Roden, performing in great, accusatory cop- speak) about the assault, then the pair going out to eat, followed by Callie talking to a comatose Sara, lying in a hospital bed wearing a neck brace. The scenes are 1-4 minutes in length, and when the lights go down the performers are pushed to change clothes -- and emotional focus -- quickly.
The pair is to be commended for pulling off a truly touching scene that finds Callie helping Sara, who is still horribly bruised, dress. In this effort to show she is capable of supporting her, Callie is asking Sara to choose to stay in New York with her rather than go back to Missouri with family. The audience is left to interpret the offstage decision.
Stefanic has a firm grip on this post-modern deconstructionist type of material, and he accents it with accompanying music, both haunting incidental strings and selections that highlight love and longing. Scott Heberling's versatile apartment setting enables the many transitions in the play to happen seamlessly, in conjunction with George Romero's precise lighting design.
It all adds up to a small theatrical gem that, like "The Vagina Monologues" in January, probably wouldn't have made its way to Tulsa if not for Theater Club pursuing it and the Nightingale Theater offering the area's prime avant-garde venue.
A note: The theater's rumbling air-conditioning unit cools the theater until showtime and during intermission only. During the two hour-plus performance, keep your program handy as a fan.
Theater Club presents "Stop Kiss" in 8 p.m. performances Thursday-Saturday at the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St. The play deals with mature subject matter and includes profanity and brief nudity. Tickets are $8 and may be reserved by calling 857-9154.
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8474 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.