Kiss kiss bang bang

What: “Stop Kiss”

When: 9 p.m., Thursday through

Saturday; 2:30 p.m., Sunday

Where: Xperimental Theatre,

Rarig Center

Cost: Free (email thex@umn.edu)

“Law & Order” often begins the same way ─ a crime scene depicts a lifeless body or some macabre result of an assailant’s crime.

The Xperimental Theatre’s latest play may not revel in fake blood and violence, but “Stop Kiss” attempts similar realism, albeit from a less formulaic standpoint.

“It’s not as cheesy as ‘Law & Order,’”***** said theater junior Zoe Wilson, the director of the Xperimental’s production.

But “Stop Kiss” bears some resemblance to the long running legal drama in its gradual extrication of a crime. In fact, playwright Diana Son even wrote for the TV show.

The play follows Callie and Sara, two friends whose relationship slowly morphs into a fleeting romance. Son’s 1998 work obviously confronts issues of sexuality, but Wilson stresses the universality of “Stop Kiss.”e

“It’s not about these women coming out,” Wilson said. “It’s not about them being gay.”

If “Stop Kiss” wanted to exploit any novelty in being a play about lesbians, Callie and Sara’s involvement would be obvious — the two might be interlocked in some sort of soft-core porn fantasy. Instead, the audience confronts the stark ambiguity of their relationship. Sara struggles with an emotionally abusive boyfriend as he arrives to visit her, and she seeks solace in Callie’s amity. This line soon blurs for the two, aiming at evoking the significance of self-discovery.

“I think it’s about finding out who you are and struggling with the identity of how others put labels on you,” Wilson said.

For Sara, the prospect of an identity search leads to violence. The non-linear timeline juxtaposes the aftermath of a vicious attack on Sara with the two friends’ escalating involvement with one another. Sara lies inert as a result of the assault for half of the scenes which the audience sees woven together. Viewers must unknot the ties between past and present.

“I think it’s important to see what Callie was, where she [is] now and how the things in the past have affected how she feels now,” theater sophomore Danie Feld said.

Callie deviates from utter despair to bliss in sequential scenes, posing a unique acting challenge. But this mesh of events induces a compelling raison d’être for the audience to grapple with as “Stop Kiss” progresses.

“The emotional changes from scene to scene are just from one end of the spectrum to another,” theater sophomore Nicole Kopfmann said.

Callie and Sara’s relationship leads up to their first kiss, but the audience’s cognizance of the unseen violent act adds extra weight to this conclusion. The challenge in portraying the two friends’ budding relationship alongside the outcome of violence probably outweighs the serialized attempt of Son’s “Law & Order” excursions because of television’s limitations. Theater’s vast combinations of art forms make “Stop Kiss” all the more poignant.

“I think making theater is close to impossible,” Wilson said.

“It’s finding those moments where it works and it’s magical. And it’s something we can’t see on a TV screen.”