THE ORIGINAL
STOP KISS, directed by Jo Bonney, premiered at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre on December 6th in 1998.
It rocked the Off Broadway season and was extended three times, becoming the longest running play, under George C. Wolfe’s administration, at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre.
It was originally commissioned by Playwrights Horizons/Amblin-Dreamworks and developed at Playlabs in Minneapolis in 1998. Readings were staged at Playwrights Horizons in 1997, the Mark Taper Forum in1998, the Public Theatre in1998, and the Royal National Theatre in London in 1999.
Winner of the 1999 Obie Award
Winner of the 1999 GLAAD Media Award for
Outstanding New York Production Off Broadway
Winner of the New York Times Best of 1999
Nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award
for Outstanding Off Broadway Play
Nominated for a Drama League Award
for Distinguished Production of a Play
Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
“Manhattan growls like an underfed pit bull in “Stop Kiss”, a sweet, sad and enchantingly sincere play…”
“Only two days into previews, it had sold 85 percent of the tickets for its five week run.”
“A delicately balanced comic drama.”-
Ben Brantley, The New York Times, 12/07/98
“We are amazed how fast we have come to trust this new playwright, Diana Son.”
“Very smart and engaging play.”
“Canny structuring and a welcome lack of cheap manipulation.”-
Linda Winer, Newsday, 12/07/98
“With the precision of a heat –seeing missile, Son pinpoints moments of maximum fire.”
“Compelling. A very funny and unsettling drama.”-
Erik Jackson, Time Out New York
“Scintillating and exquisitely acted. Brilliant. A beautiful play.”-
Clive Barnes, New York Post
“Diana Son’s Stop Kiss Jangles and crackles like a clangorous New York street on a summer night; it bristles with cynical asides and wiseass retorts as it follows the meeting and mating…”-
Francine Russo, The Village Voice
“Vital and exciting. A first rate production.”-
David Kaufman, Daily News
“The Playwright captures the exquisite longing that expresses itself in finding excuses to ditch boyfriends…”
Don Shewey, Advocate, 2/02/99
ATLANTA PREMIERE
“A Beautiful Play.”
“Funny and real and smart from the start, it grabs your heart before you know it, and the lives of protagonists Callie and Sara become dearly important to you.”
“The beauty of Son’s play is how she embroiders it with the quirky realness of human beings.”-
Kathy Janich, The Atlanta Constitution, 4/28/00
WEST COAST PREMIERE
“Son has created two characters who grow on us as gently and inescapably as they do on each other.”-
Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/12/01