SE play focuses on special friendship
by Ashley Clark, entertainment editor

     Provocative, powerful, creative and ingenious are some of the words to describe SE Campus’ upcoming play, Stop Kiss by Diana Son, which runs Wednesday-Saturday, Oct. 18-21.
     An intense plot, the play focuses on two young women living on their own in the fast-paced world of New York. They are from completely different backgrounds—one from a sheltered family, the other from a more rural life.
     They find a common ground and develop a fun, unique and special friendship.
     During the course of the friendship, the two women engage in an affectionate kiss leading to an attack on one of the women. Confusion and trauma heighten awareness of real issues among society today.
     “At first I was afraid to do it,” said actress Claudia Acosta of her character, Callie. “Then I realized it was not about gay and lesbian issues. It's more about tolerance, how people react to relationships of that nature and how who you chose to love becomes so unnecessarily important to people in the outside world.”
     Actress, Megan Davidson, who plays Sarah, shares Acosta's sentiments.
“Once I got the part I was really nervous. I thought ‘Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?’” she said,
     “Then I heard how our director planned to present the show, and I felt a lot better about it. He has taken a great approach to the script, and I'm very happy with how it is being done,” she said.
     Director John Wayne Shaffer said, “We can do Annie Get Your Gun; that certainly has its place. However, artists like to present the truth and portray it finding out what makes us tick and what makes us work.”
     Shaffer’s creativity with the script is most evident in his set design. It tends to play a role on its own, which is something that, he says, has never been done with this script before.
     Shaffer’s version of Stop Kiss is entirely his own creation as well as the most technically complex show done at SE so far, he pointed out.
     The scenes take place on a revolving stage that accommodates the 45 scene changes. The moving set helps to keep the flow of the play going rather than traditional lights-out, lights-on set changes where a crew moves things around in the dark.
     An arch-way of trash was constructed above the stage where the scenes interchange. Embedded in the archway are televisions and radios on either side that display sounds and images of media, accenting the scenes throughout the show.
     “This symbolizes our connection to reality. The media tend to surround us all like trash,” he said.
     “During the time when the two young women are figuring out who they are, a pager will go off, a computer will sound or a television will turn on during a scene to display how the media interrupts our lives daily,” he said.
     Several definitions of love are played showing the acceptance of different life choices as well as unwarranted hate surrounding these decisions.
     Sarah and Callie are startled when they see the issues they are facing being falsely represented in the media. Some of the images being used are segments of Dr. Laura, South Park and hate-crime news images.
     “We wanted to use an image of a recent crime where a young man was killed for being gay and then tied to a fence,” he said. “Then we realized that was too heavy and not what the playwright had intended. The intention was for a more indirect approach in order to engage the mind. I feel that is what our transitions ended up doing.”
     Fourteen students make up the cast and understudies. Claudia Acosta and Shelly Spangler will play the tough, good-humored and vulnerable Callie.
     Megan Davidson and Holland Sanders will portray Sarah, the sheltered schoolteacher from St. Louis.
     The cast also includes Travis Head and Jeff Banks as George, James Yeager as Peter, Sarah Hemadi and Jennifer Silva as Ms. Winsley; Matt Downs and Tim Dean as Detective Cole and Jaclyn Townley as the nurse.
     An understudy-cast production will run for one night on Friday, Oct. 13.
     “This is not a representation of the actual show,” Shaffer said. “The actors have had only one rehearsal so far, so they will be giving audiences a taste of the show before it actually runs, as well as displaying their own talent.”
     Discussion and a personal look at the issues in today's society are the reactions Shaffer is hoping for from the audience of this award-winning play opening Wednesday, Oct 18.
     Stop Kiss is also a feature in an upcoming American College Theatre festival.
Performance time is at 8 p.m. Call 817-515-3826 for reservations.