Stop Kiss

by Diana Son

Ben Brantley of the New York Times summed up the critical reaction to Diana Son's play Stop Kiss when he stated that it "generated the warmest advance word of mouth of any downtown production this season" and heralded it as a Barefoot in the Park for a new generation. Son's story is deceptively two young women in New York meet, talk about their boyfriends, feel a growing, unspoken attraction for each other, and finally kiss. And that one innocent kiss sets off a savage gay-bashing. But even as Stop Kiss confronts the reality of physical violence, Son's imaginative, moving, and surprising comedy brings audiences -- and her principal characters -- to unexpected places. Callie is holding down a job as a radio traffic reporter when she meets Sara, a midwesterner who, against her parents' wishes, has moved to the city to teach third-grade students in the Bronx. Both have boyfriends, but as they get to know each other, their shared experiences and sense of humor create a strong bond. The tragic consequences of their kiss -- the center of this powerful drama -- serve as both an indictment of hatred and a moving study of the perils inherent in living life fully.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, LGBT, Queer, Romance, Fiction

141 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tight, suspenseful, heartbreaking. Back and forth in time with a climax that focuses not on the awful crime that takes place late one night in NY, but on the burgeoning relationship between two people. Neat, efficient, sweet, uplifting ending.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with Stop Kiss. It has a beautifully written script that successfully stirs emotions and tugs at heartstrings. There were moments where I found myself in a puddle of tears. I would most definitely recommend this story to anyone interested. In addition, I strongly believe this tear-jerker deserves all the praise and attention it receives. I would describe this play as a bittersweet queer love story set in present-day New York.

Who knew I would find myself heavily weeping after reading about an awkward first kiss? But, of course, who wouldn’t, as it was so much more than a kiss. It was a profession of love between two friends that developed an attraction for each other, leading to so many confusing feelings.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

homophobia psa meets freedom writers

[Emily Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sad but we need more queer femme rep on stage so for that I loved it

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

With all the press about the "new gay theatre" one thing remains: male domination. So it is thrilling, and a relief, to read a love story between women. Not a simple story, to be sure, and rife with tragedy like the best of 'em. It's about time.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read for Pride Month 2025)

I received this script in the same acting class I read/performed “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” earlier this year. Even though we chose a different play for the class, I held onto “Stop Kiss” and elected to read it for Pride Month this year. Stop Kiss focuses on two young lovers, Callie and Sara, exploring their sexuality and friendship in 1990s NYC and in the lead-up to and fallout both from their first kiss and them being the victim of a hate crime.

As with most scripts I read, the play loses some of the impact as you’re not seeing these characters out their lines. But the writing for Stop Kiss is still pretty good and reading is sufficient enough to understand Callie and Sara’s navigation of their relationship and related issues. Its a heartwarming and heartbreaking story. As for its LGBT+ themes it was interesting seeing the writing for characters in a decade that I was too young to know about those types of things. I want to say things are better for lesbian women these days but that’s not true so there’s a timelessness to what Callie and Sara have to go through just to be together.

While I can’t say where “Stop Kiss” falls on the rankings of off-Broadway shows about budding young LGBT+ love in NYC, I found Stop Kiss to be a solid love story that I’m sure can be an emotional experience when performed with a full cast.

[lux · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Maddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very fast read. It was okay, I guess. It feels cliché. It's a romance story. There are two people. They fall in love. Something happens that gets in the way of their love.

I hate that it's set "Now." Son doesn't set a year, it's just set as "Now." First of all: Why? If you're not straight, then it just makes it feel like stuff like what happened to Sara will never not happen because it will always take place now and will never change. Is this for straight people, then, to get them to Do Something to stop hate crimes/homophobia/etc.? I hate that most literature I've seen around the LGBTQ+ community is centered on homophobia, or that most of its message is directed at straight people. Oh, look, more gay people getting beat up. How edgy. How original. What I would like is happy homosexual couples, or, at least, ones that exist without being a big deal to the other characters -- the kind of relationship that just exists, and it's normal, and that's it, the normalcy given to heterosexual relationships. Yeah, homophobia is real, and this stuff happens, but this exists in so many stories that I literally never want to see it again. (It's also worth noting that every time I've seen this shit, it comes from straight writers. Can y'all stop.) I know this was written in 2000, but if you want this to take place in the perpetual Now, then it gets my criticism of Now.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this play. The premise is astounding, enthralling. I'm writing this review on the first day of Pride Month. The execution of the play is less impressive. The scenes are short and underdeveloped, forcing stage management and direction make up for what the script is missing. As a high school drama teacher, I taught my students that they had to properly develop scenes, giving some meat to the bones. I noticed that Sandra Oh played one of the roles. It would take someone of her caliber to make up for the choppy scene development. Without having a scene evolve (because they're changing so quickly), the actor has a tougher job.

Even more problematic is the location of "the kiss" in the plot. Kisses are gateways to human interaction. To put the fateful kiss where she does, the author wants to trust in what has already developed in a non-linear plot. But I think audiences leave this play thinking the play hasn't ended, or that there's more to be explored.

I'd urge others to try running with the soul defining LGBTQ kiss. There's more to be explored in this scenario without even coming close to mimicking the plot of "Stop, Kiss".

[val · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARGHHH !!!! THE CONSTANT SHIFTING BETWEEN DIFFERENT TIMELINES PISSED ME OFF SO FREAKING BAD! YOU SAID “NOW” AT THE BEGINNING BUT ITS NOT JUST “NOW” IS IT?!? ITS NOW AND THEN AND NOW AND THEN BACK TO THEN AND NOW AGAIN

anyway, YAY SAPPHICS
DITCH PETER AND GEORGE 321 NOW

the detective pissed me off too like why are you making the VICTIMS seem like the PERPETRATORS??? hating gay people in this day and age is so uncool !!!

[Avery Russey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to play Callie now. I loved this play, probably one of my favorites i've read. It was heartbreaking and they got all the build up of the relationship so correct.

[Catlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A one-act play that somehow manages to include classism and racism without ever condemning it and falls into a multitude of tropes such as: White Savior, Bury Your Gays (this isn't a spoiler, so don't worry), Homophobic Hate Crime, Out of the Closet Into the Fire, (Almost) Dead Lesbian Syndrome, The Big Rotten Apple, Save Our Students/Inner City School, and White Man's Burden (see TV Tropes for explanations and examples of these).

I was excited to read an emotional LGBTQIA+ story written by an Asian woman, especially since lesbians are generally underrepresented in terms of LGBTQIA+ media (let's face it, anyone who isn't the big "G" is pretty much ignored in media) but this story fell flat. The scenes are too short and choppy, Sara and Callie have almost no chemistry, and there isn't anything remarkable about it. It's just another story about how gay-bashing is bad and seems to say that you can only be a Good Gay if you're closeted.

The entire play is, "Is she ... you know? *limp wrist motion* Not that that's bad, but I'm just surprised is all, since she didn't seem like it. Also, I'm not homophobic because one time I went to a gay bar and saw the gays in real life."

2/5, not the best play for the El Gee Bee Tees.

[jamiereads92 · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m working on scenes from this for my acting class this semester and this play is so sad. i feel really bad for callie and sara especially because they’re just trying to figure themselves out and neither of them could come to terms with how they were feeling until there was a life or death event.

[Macy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning. I would love to perform this one day.

[Brooklyn Ramsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so cute but so devastatingly sad :(

[sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this so much <3

[Emma Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

did you guys know i love this play

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lowkey not queer enough. Thank god I never saw Kenyon college students put this on, I would’ve enjoyed it much less.

[Elaine Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow ;~;

[Manu The Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es la primera obra que leo en inglés por mi cuenta, ya que estaré haciendo uno de los monólogos de la obra, me ayudo mucho a conectar con el personaje. Me gustó bastante, cuenta una historia muy profunda y real.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this play for a while now and I'm glad I finally did.

The scenes of this play go back and forth between the before and after of a gay bashing. The before scenes develop the relationship of the two women, mainly their growing friendship and the subtle ways they begin to realize they are attracted to one another (as well as Callie's self-consciousness about people thinking or knowing she could be a lesbian). The after scenes deal with the aftermath of the gay bashing and mainly consists of people finding out about the relationship between the two women.

On the whole, I think the after scenes are a bit weaker, mainly because they're focused on Callie still not wanting people to find out (even going so far as to withhold information from the police trying to investigate the crime, which makes no sense) and then not wanting Sara to be moved back home and away from Callie. Even though I'm sure Callie is meant to be sympathetic, I actually found her to be quite selfish. Additionally, the after scenes have no real closure as the play ends with the moment before the gay bashing occurs.

This play is 20 years old and I think it's important because I can think of lots of books and movies and plays about male victims of anti-gay violence, but this is the only one I can think of when it comes to anti-gay violence against women. Son draws attention to that with this play and I do think that's commendable. I also did find this play to be very accessible and easy to read.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was readable. Diana Son's a screenwriter, and it shows--it kind of felt like Reality Bites but heavier. However, this is dated, now almost 20 years later. I found the lesbian plotline quite thin and entirely too cliche two girls are dissatisfied with their boyfriends so obviously they're attracted to each other // they get brutally beaten when they finally get to have their first kiss. And the whole St. Louis thing was poorly researched and/or given to Son by a deeeeeeeep suburbanite. I didn't even recognize the STL they harped on, even a 1998 STL (and I lived in the 'burbs then!). Still, I'm glad I read it, especially seeing as I am woefully behind on contemporary drama; I just hope there's been better LGBTQ plays written.

Now I'm going to watch Reality Bites like it's 1998.

********
And that completes my 2016 Read Harder challenge!!!!!!!!!!! (read a play)

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm cheating, since I haven't read a word of the play. But, I did just watch the preview performance at the City Lights Theater in San Jose. If this play has such power to move the audience, even when the production still has rough edges and there's a live band playing LOUDLY outside on the street -- yes, it was the Left Coast Live music festival, and it was Friday night -- then it must be a very good play.

The plot is critical to this very well-plotted play, so I won't give it away. What's ironic about the way the plot works is that, even though you find out very early in the play what terrible event is going to befall the characters later, it just makes the play draw you in even more deeply.

[Halden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop kiss tells the story of the Sara and Callie two friends of friends that befriend each other when Sara moves to New York. The non linear play shows us how the friendship blossoms and morphs into more while juxtaposed against a terrifying incident.

This play was captivating, and moving. Sara and Callie are magnetic characters whose attraction jumps off the page. Their dialogue is wonderful and funny. Their evolution and self discovery is a real pleasure to read and it is really punctuated by the contrast with the heartbreaking tragedy and darkness that also touches their lives. I found the open ended ending really left me wanting while still be satisfying as the story is not about where they are going but their journey.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was incredibly tender with moments of humor. In a short time the author made you care about the characters. Admitly it was hard to tell from just reading it (as opposed to performed), but the pacing felt right. It's also interesting to consider it in the context of the year it premiered (1998, the same year Matthew Shepard was killed). I also considered it in the context of an epidemic of trans* women of color murdered in D.C. in recent years). Finally, reading a play that came in this particular format brought me back to my days doing theater in middle and high school.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is one of those works that takes up residence within your soul after you finish it. No matter now many times I come back to Stop Kiss, it always moves me. Its structure, alternating between chronologically ordered moments before and after the attack, culminates in two of the most poignant final scenes I’ve seen. Son delicately balances the harsh realities of anti-LGBTQ violence with the innocence of a budding romance. While Stop Kiss is a beautiful read, I only wish there were more productions of it across the country to see it onstage. Fair warning though, this is not a light show.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny drama about love and what we're willing to risk to be with the one person we never expected to come along in the first place. Son expertly cuts the past with the present, as we watch a relationship develop between two women, only for that development to be overshadowed by coming violence and rage. Is there room in modern life for love and understanding? A valid question from a exciting dramatist.

[Mylissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this, all I could think of were the possibilities of it when performed live, which hopefully I'll get the chance to see some point. Relatable, interesting characters struggling through their own lives and finding solace, friendship and love in one another which is ripped apart by a brutal attack. Characters feel fleshed out and have their own needs and wants, even the ones we hardly see. A play the American cannon absolutely needed.

[Jon Hewelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing play! I like the structure, the characters, the humor, everything about it. Stop Kiss is the beautiful and tragic and beautiful again unfolding of a relationship. A phenomenal piece of theatre. Check it out!

[kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so good! i'm still trying to get the gist of reading more plays and this is by far the best one i've read (for now).