Written by Diana Son

Directed by James Vesce
Scenic Design: Anita Tripathi Easterling
Lighting Design: Jonathan Dillard
Costume Design: Tonya Johnson
Sound Design: James Vesce

Lab Theatre, UNC Charlotte

"I am quite aware of the contrast between how you assume things are one moment, and how they can utterly, irrevocably change in the next."

"I am consistently interested in the conflict between how other people identify you and the more complex way in which you know yourself."

"I would never personally say, "This is a play about homophobia. This is a play about gay bashing. This is a play about the civil rights of gays and lesbians in America." I would describe the play as a love story."
-Diana Son

Despite its reputation as a "lesbian play" or "hate crimes tour de force", Stop Kiss remains for Diana Son a love story. The approach in this production avoided the temptation to exploit any number of interpretations or agendas legitimately or not associated with the play. An energetic, intense and relevant drama about the relationship before and after a hate crime, it moves in an intermittent format, braiding humorous and disturbing acts together to tell the story. Stop Kiss won an Off-Broadway Theater Award (OBIE) and was named one of the best plays of 1999 by the New York Times.