On the Town
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“I make my living writing and producing TV shows and I also have a family, including three sons, so I don’t get
to spend as much time writing plays,
which is still my favorite form of writing,” says Son. “I did recently finish a
first draft of a new play, commissioned
by the Public, that I’d been chipping
away at for a long time.” Until it’s finished, catch Son’s work on television or
at Subversive this month.
Subversive Theatre opens Stop Kiss
February 23 ( subversivetheatre.org,
716-408-0499).
Also Playing (In Order Of Closing)
Theatre of Youth presents The
Shakespeare Stealer through February
12. ( theatreofyouth.org, 884-4400).
Frankenstein continues through
February 12 at Road Less Traveled Pro-
ductions (roadlesstraveledproductions.
org; 629-3069).
O’Connell and Company’s It Shoul-
da Been You is on until February 26
( oconnellandcompany.com, 848-0800).
Opening This Month
Sophisticated Ladies opens Febru-
ary 9 at MusicalFare ( musicalfare.com,
839-8540).
Jewish Repertory Theatre opens
After the Revolution February 9.
( jewishrepertorytheatre.com, 888-718-
4253).
MusicalFare opens Ring of Fire Feb-
ruary 16 at 710 Main (musicalfare.
com, 839-8540).
The Collection opens February 16 at
Torn Space Theater (tornspacetheater.
com, 812-5733.
Buffalo Quickies opens at Alley-
way February 23 ( alleyway.com, 852-
2600).
Playwright Donna Hoke writes about theater for
Spree and Forever Young.
I’m at Shea’s when it’s coming here,
because it played such an important
part in my life.”
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and
Murder comes to Shea’s February
16-22 ( sheas.org, 855-797-3952).
Stop Kiss
Subversive Theatre
By Diana Son
Director: Kelly Beuth
Cast: Brittany Germano, Jennifer Gembka,
Justin Fiordaliso, Brian Brown, Theresa
DiMuro Wilber
Everything semi-old becomes rele-
vant again, as the saying (sort of) goes.
Stop Kiss, by Diana Son, is described as
“an under-the-radar gem of 1990s pro-
test theater that offers a breathtakingly
honest glimpse at love, fear, homopho-
bia, and hate crime as two young ladies
come to the brink of discovering some-
thing beautiful just as the bigots close
in.”
Though playwright Son says Stop
Kiss is often seen as a gay bashing
story, she sees it as a love story. “It’s
about how love can change you. Cal-
lie and Sara are reluctant to acknowl-
edge their attraction to each other for
character-specific reasons not having
to do with external homophobia. The
fact that they’ve both only dated men
before meeting each other is the big-
gest obstacle. It’s not about either one
of them always feeling like they were
gay but not being willing to accept it.
They just hadn’t met the right person
yet,” Son says.
At the same time, Son acknowledges
that “gay bashings are still very much a
problem and, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects,
there has been an increase in anti-gay
violence since 2007. Even here in New
York City, there was a rash of homo-phobic crime in the past few years.
And who knows what will happen with
the new president and administration?
[Still], I don’t want people to think it’s
a brutal play with a heavy-handed political message. Most audiences find it to
be funny, humane, relatable, and compassionate, but also realistic in terms of
some people’s experience.”
Stop Kiss, which was Son’s first full-length play, had its world premiere at
the Public in 1998, and has since been
produced hundreds of times.
Satellites was produced in 2006, but Son
has made her living in television since
2000, beginning as a story editor on
The West Wing, and most recently executive producer of the upcoming Netflix
series based on Thirteen Reasons Why,
Jay Asher’s young adult novel. She’s
also worked on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Southland, Blue Bloods,
and American Crime.
the other—I just read it—but I imme-
diately said, ‘Let’s do it.’ At the time, it
wasn’t being considered for a commer-
cial run; it was just a good musical that
our audiences would enjoy.”
That all changed after the New York
Times’ Charles Isherwood attended the
Hartford Stage premiere in October
2012, and wrote a gushing review that
said GGLAM “ranks among the most
inspired and entertaining new musi-
cal comedies I’ve seen in years.” That’s
all it took to get producers circling.
When GGLAM hit the Globe in Febru-
ary 2013, it was in full Broadway prep
mode, and this second production had
new costumes, scenery adjustments,
and two additional ensemble members.
By fall 2013, GGLAM was on Broad-
way, where it ran for more than two
years; the national tour began even
while it was still running. “They
announced they were casting and, if
anybody was interested, they could
audition,” says Kevin Massey, who was
a Broadway understudy for Monty and
nabbed the role in the original touring
cast. “It’s a great feeling to know you’re
always going to be playing the role you
want to be playing; it’s never last min-
ute. I got to recreate it on my own with
wonderful influences from the Montys
I’ve seen and worked with. And the cos-
tumes fit you exactly because they’re
made for you, so that’s always a plus.”
There are adjustments for the tour,
of course, including a cast that’s a little
younger and action that’s a little farther
downstage to accommodate the larger
houses the show is playing to. “We’ve
been pleasantly surprised that it works
very well even in big houses, because
the script is so good and our sound
design [allows] everybody to hear these
wonderful lyrics.”
Massey loves Monty’s first death
scene, which he says is the “the first
time the audience finally clicks in to
where the night is going. It’s great to be
part of that moment. The door trio in
the second act—which they showed on
the Tonys—is such an amazing piece of
theater and choreography and it works
every single night and brings the house
down. It’s awesome to be part of that,
but, honestly, the thing that keeps me
going is just the high quality of the
show. It just really works.”
“I give a lot of credit to the producer
who marketed it to help people under-
stand that it wasn’t your typical show,
but a very funny meaningful little show
that came out from behind and won the
Tony,” says Murphy. “We’d [ushered in
other shows] that were nominated for
Tonys, but this was the first time one
won Best Play or Best Musical. I was
pleased and proud that we were able
to be part of that, and I’m thrilled that
Diana Son
