Stage Kiss (Ruhl)

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Stage Kiss (Ruhl)

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  3w, 4m

Sarah Ruhl

Art imitates Life. Life imitates Art. When two actors with a history are thrown together as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama, they quickly lose touch with reality as the story onstage follows them offstage.

Image: 2014 Playwrights Horizons Production (Joan Marcus)

Stage Kiss (Ruhl)

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 4m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Romantic Comedy
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior, Teen (Age 14-18)
Accolades
Accolades
  • Sarah Ruhl is the 2003 recipient of the Whiting Award for Drama.
Stage Kiss (Ruhl)

Details

Summary
Art imitates Life. Life imitates Art. When two actors with a history are thrown together as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama, they quickly lose touch with reality as the story onstage follows them offstage. Stage Kiss captures Sarah Ruhl’s singular voice; it is a charming tale about what happens when lovers share a stage kiss—or when actors share a real one.
History
Stage Kiss premiered at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2011 before making its New York City debut at Playwrights Horizons in 2014, under the direction of Rebecca Taichman.
Keywords
Performing Groups
  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day, 1930s
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Drugs
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“Part parody, part inside-baseball valentine to theater, part falling-down silly physical comedy about love.” – Newsday

“CRITIC'S PICK. Suffused with warmth and humor. Sarah Ruhl frothily whips together romantic comedy and backstage farce in this lively comedy about a pair of actors... who find life and art mixing together when they rekindle an old romance during rehearsals for a play.” – The New York Times

“FOUR STARS. Sarah Ruhl delivers a brilliant comedy that aims for big laughs and hits its target. Funny: There’s nothing like it.” – New York Post

“At once a knowing sendup of the hazy half-truths of stage naturalism and a goofy meditation on the nature of desire and sexual fantasy, [Stage Kiss] manages to be both wholly original and instantly recognizable to the audience. As a satire of theatre and theatricals, it’s right up there with Neil Simon’s 'The Sunshine Boys.” – The New Yorker

“There's not one but two plays-within-a-play in Sarah Ruhl's Stage Kiss, a highly meta-theatrical, fundamentally enjoyable, slightly slight, not-so-romantic comedy pondering the complexity of onstage osculation.” – Variety

“The gorgeously articulate author of The Clean House and Eurydice is in top form with this delightful piece.” – Theatremania

Additional Information from Playwrights Horizons

Videos

  • Sarah Ruhl on Subtext youtube thumbnail

    Sarah Ruhl on Subtext

  • Sarah Ruhl Stage Kiss youtube thumbnail

    Sarah Ruhl Stage Kiss

  • STAGE KISS by Sarah Ruhl, Playwrights Horizons youtube thumbnail

    STAGE KISS by Sarah Ruhl, Playwrights Horizons

  • Rebecca Taichman on STAGE KISS, Playwrights Horizons youtube thumbnail

    Rebecca Taichman on STAGE KISS, Playwrights Horizons

Photos

  • Stage Kiss (Ruhl)

    Image: 2014 Playwrights Horizons Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
    This title may have restrictions in place for London based productions. Please submit a licence request to confirm specific availability.

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Authors

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl’s plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Melancholy Play, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, The Oldest Boy, Stage Kiss, Dear Elizabeth, Eurydice, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Orlando, Late ...

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