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Stop Kiss
4 out of 5
Stage 13, La Cité Francophone, 8627 91 St.
Cinematic in a mumblecore way and running as long as a rom-com film, Stop Kiss is a painfully realistic meet cute story that like so much queer narrative has ample doses of trauma.
Set in an unstated year sometime after 1997 where plug-in phones, VHS tapes and people said “cabs” instead of Uber, young New York City TV traffic reporter Callie (Anna Michelle) is taking care of the cat of fresh St. Louis import and Bronx elementary schoolteacher Sara (Izzy Deutscher).
Although Callie is in a loosey-goosey sex buddy relationship with her friend George, a slow-burn fire grows from the sparks between the two women, whose banter is terrifically believable and easily makes you nostalgic for the awkwardness of early hookups, with the added pressure of “wait, am I a lesbian?” stirred in.
Told non-sequentially with impressionistic projections after the aforementioned tragedy strikes, a terrific backup cast of Spenser Kells, Christina Moore, Malachi Short and Ben Kuchera in locations immediately teased on stage including a cluttered living room, police desk and hospital bed.
Peppered with funny lines like “older lesbians just stay at home and read” which got some laughs of familiarity from the crowd, and the West Village being “Graceland for gay people,” playwright Diana Son should really start applying for film grants and get this onscreen.
I won’t tell you how it ends, of course, but I will say beautifully.
Love is tricky, especially when hate is so persistent, and this one takes a worthwhile look at both without resorting to melodrama for a second.