Thursday, August 31, through Sunday, September 3

Augustana College's Honkamp Black Box Theatre, 3750 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL

A 1998 off-Broadway smash for author Diana Son, the big-city romance Stop Kiss was described by the New York Times as a “delicately balanced comedy-drama,” and a “gentle, affectionate work with a sense of blithe comedy that brings to mind early episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

Although much of Son's play is comedic in nature, its setup concerns a vicious attack (one not shown on-stage) by an angry bystander when Sara and Callie walk through New York City's West Village late at night and share their first kiss. After the attack lands Sara in a coma, friends and family members gather to nurse her back to health, and as they do, Stop Kiss explores depths of emotion and compassion in a moving, emotional tale told out of chronological sequence.

Augustana student Audrey Johnson directs this first studio-theatre production of the college's season, also portraying Sara opposite Micaela Cushing's Callie, and the full Stop Kiss cast includes Augustana students Scott Brick, Thea Gonzales, Melina Herman, Mikaylo Kelly, and alumnus Josh Malone. Says Johnson about her production: “While originally a show about two cis women who find love in each other outside of their heterosexual relationships, I wanted to update the script to reflect the LGBT-related violence of today. Making Sara a trans woman was a fairly easy change to make, one that I felt was imbedded in the script already.

“Ultimately, I wanted to give hope to trans women – to let them know that we are able to find and create spaces where we can feel loved, valued, supported. Trans women are allowed to be in the present tense, not just in sad stories and tragedies.”

Stop Kiss runs Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m., tickets are $5, and more information is available by calling (309)794-7306 or visiting Augustana.edu.

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