August 4-10, 2005

artpicks

Kiss the Girl

by Karen Williams

theater

Imagine a first kiss: the anticipation, the uncertainty, the fluttering feelings, the allure. How perfect it is that the simple act of two lips pressed together can evoke such a rush of emotion. Who would ever think it could endanger someone's life? Yet such is the case in Simpatico Theatre Project's new production, Stop Kiss, a play about a blossoming friendship between Sara (Julie Ann Marra), a Midwesterner-turned-New Yorker, and Callie (Heather Dyas-Fried), a radio traffic reporter and welcome friendly face. After an initial connection, the two women, who both have men waiting in the wings, develop an attraction new to both of them. In quiet desire, neither is aware that these feelings are mutual. If potentially losing a friend and voyaging into uncharted territory weren't risky enough, the two soon find that a kiss that they share may throw them into a hostile reality as well.

"Through exploring the journey of these women's relationship, the kiss becomes less about two women being lesbians and more about a simple and genuine moment in two people's lives," says director Carol Laratonda. "For me, that is where the core of the play is. How can something so simple and pure turn into a gruesome crime that hurts people's lives so badly?"

Stop Kiss, Thu., Aug. 4 (pay-what-you-can performance), 8 p.m., Fri., Aug. 5, 8 p.m., Sat., Aug. 6, 3 p.m., $10, through Aug. 26 (Aug. 20 features a discussion with Stacey L. Sobel, executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights), The Playground at the Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom St., 215-423-0254, www.simpaticotheatre.org.