Stage Kiss Read online

  BOOKS BY SARAH RUHL AVAILABLE FROM TCG

  Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Woolf’s Orlando

  (Two Renderings for the Stage)

  The Clean House and Other Plays

  ALSO INCLUDES:

  Eurydice

  Late: a cowboy song

  Melancholy Play

  Dead Man’s Cell Phone

  In the Next Room or the vibrator play

  Passion Play

  Stage Kiss

  Stage Kiss is copyright © 2014 by Sarah Ruhl

  Stage Kiss is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 Eighth Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156

  All Rights Reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the author’s representative: Bruce Ostler, Bret Adams Ltd., 448 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036, (212) 765-5630.

  “The Sublime and the Good,” by Iris Murdoch, Chicago Review: Volume 13, Number 3 (Autumn 1959), pp. 42–55.

  “Some Enchanted Evening,” By Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, copyright © 1949 by Williamson Music (ASCAP), an Imagem Company, owner of publication and allied rights throughout the world. Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

  The publication of Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl, through TCG’s Book Program, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

  TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Ruhl, Sarah, 1974–

  Stage Kiss / Sarah Ruhl.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-1-55936-429-4 (ebook)

  I. Title.

  PS3618.U48S732014

  812’.6—dc232014019184

  Book design and composition by Lisa Govan

  Cover design by Rodrigo Corral Design / Rachel Adam Rogers

  First Edition, December 2014

  For actors

  For first loves

  But most of all, for my husband

  Contents

  Production History

  Characters

  Act One

  Scene 1—Audition

  Scene 2

  Scene 3—The Next Day

  Scene 4

  Scene 5—Putting the Understudy in for Previews

  Scene 6

  Scene 6.5—The Last Scene of the Play

  Scene 7

  Act Two

  Scene 1

  Scene 2

  Scene 3

  Scene 4

  Scene 5

  Scene 6

  Acknowledgments

  Production History

  Stage Kiss had its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director) in Chicago on May 9, 2011. It was directed by Jessica Thebus. The set design was by Todd Rosenthal, the costume design was by Linda Roethke, the lighting design was by James F. Ingalls, the sound design was by Andre J. Pluess; the dramaturg was Neena Arndt, the fight choreographer was Nick Sandys and the production stage manager was Joseph Drummond. The cast was:

  SHE

  Jenny Bacon

  HE

  Mark L. Montgomery

  DIRECTOR

  Ross Lehman

  KEVIN/BUTLER/DOCTOR/PIMP

  Jeffrey Carlson

  HUSBAND/HARRISON

  Scott Jaeck

  ANGELA/MAID/MILLIE

  Sarah Tolan-Mee

  MILLICENT/LAURIE

  Erica Elam

  Stage Kiss had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) on March 2, 2014. It was directed by Rebecca Taichman. The set design was by Neil Patel, the costume design was by Susan Hilferty, the lighting design was by Peter Kaczorowski, the sound design was by Matt Hubbs, the original music was by Todd Almond; the choreographer was Sam Pinkleton, the fight choreographer was Turner Smith and the production stage manager was Cole P. Bonenberger. The cast was:

  SHE

  Jessica Hecht

  HE

  Dominic Fumusa

  DIRECTOR

  Patrick Kerr

  KEVIN/BUTLER/DOCTOR/PIMP

  Michael Cyril Creighton

  HUSBAND/HARRISON

  Daniel Jenkins

  ANGELA/MAID/MILLIE

  Emma Galvin

  MILLICENT/LAURIE

  Clea Alsip

  THE ACCOMPANIST

  Todd Almond

  Characters

  1.A woman—She—in her mid-forties. Plays the role of Ada Wilcox.

  2.A man—He—in his mid-forties. Plays the role of Johnny Lowell.

  3.A director, Adrian Schwalbach.

  4.Kevin, the reader. Also plays the understudy, the doctor, the butler and the pimp.

  5.The husband, or Harrison.

  6.Millie and the maid in Act One; Angela in Act Two. An actress in her early twenties who can believably play a teenager.

  7.Millicent in Act One; Laurie in Act Two. An actress in her late twenties or early thirties.

  Set

  The set has three modes which should easily transform.

  A red curtain would be nice to set off the plays within plays.

  1.A raw theater space (emptiness, the thing itself).

  2.A 1930s stage set (artifice happy to be artifice; think: gorgeous painted drops and flats).

  3.A naturalistically messy East Village apartment, as real as possible (artifice ashamed of its own artifice; think: an installation).

  Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

  —Iris Murdoch

  Act One

  Scene 1—Audition

  Lights up on a raw, empty theater space.

  Chairs.

  A piano.

  SHE

  Sorry the train was—I’m so late—I’m so sorry—Do you still want me to—?

  DIRECTOR

  No problem.

  SHE

  Great. Okay. Is this—?

  DIRECTOR

  Yes, Kevin will be reading with you.

  SHE

  Nice to meet you, Kevin. Do you want me to actually kiss Kevin, or Kevin do you mind if we kiss; you look young, I don’t want to traumatize you.

  KEVIN

  No—please, go ahead.

  SHE

  Could you position your chair this way then? Sorry, is that weird? I had sort of pictured your chair this way. Should I start?

  DIRECTOR

  Whenever you’re ready.

  SHE

  Okay. I’ll start then. Wait, I’ll just move my chair. Is that all right?

  DIRECTOR

  Great.

  A pause.

  SHE

  Sorry—can I ask one thing?

  DIRECTOR

  Of course.

  SHE

&nb
sp; I just got the sides because my agent blah blah blah and I didn’t have time to read the whole thing, so do you mind just telling me the plot a little bit because I only have these four pages—

  During the following, She vocalizes some responses—ums and ohs—that register her narrative empathy and interest.

  DIRECTOR

  Sure. You’re told in the first scene that you have a month to live. You have a rare degenerative disorder. And you say to yourself: I need to see my old love before I die. And you cable him and he comes for a visit, he lives in Sweden, so he stays with you for a month, in your penthouse in Manhattan. It’s a very nice apartment as your husband is a very wealthy train mogul. You and your first love pick up right where you left off, but your husband is so noble that he doesn’t object. And seeing your old love has reversed your disease and you are becoming healthier and healthier. In the third act your daughter comes home from Paris and your first love falls in love with your daughter, and takes her to Sweden. So you are left alone, to pick up the pieces.

  And there are some really very funny bits in the middle when you’re all living together under one roof but some really sort of sad bits, you know, when you’re ill, and the generosity of your husband in letting your old lover stay with you. Which I find very moving. So it’s tonally, very you know, slippery. And it was a flop on Broadway in 1932 but we think with the proper cast, a new score, and some judicious cuts it will be really very well received in New Haven.

  SHE

  Got it.

  DIRECTOR

  What else . . . there are one or two musical numbers.

  You do sing, don’t you?

  SHE

  Oh—yes.

  DIRECTOR

  So, have a go?

  SHE

  (To Kevin) Are you playing the husband and the lover?

  Kevin nods.

  SHE

  All, right so I’ll just pretend the husband is here (Pointing in another direction, away from Kevin) and you’re there. (Pointing to Kevin)

  KEVIN

  Okay.

  SHE AS ADA

  (Looking at an imaginary person off to the side) I can’t bear cocktails anymore, I’m afraid.

  KEVIN AS HUSBAND

  Water then?

  SHE AS ADA

  Yes.

  KEVIN AS HUSBAND

  In the solarium or in the study?

  SHE AS ADA

  The study I think. Have Jenkins put everything out.

  The imaginary husband exits in the play, but of course, Kevin just sits.

  SHE

  (To Kevin) He just exited right?

  KEVIN

  Right.

  She follows the imaginary husband out with her eyes and turns back to Kevin, with passion.

  SHE AS ADA

  (To Kevin, as the lover) God, I love you. I love you I love you I love you.

  They kiss.

  SHE AS ADA

  Your lips taste like—let me taste them again.

  She kisses him again.

  SHE AS ADA

  Of cherries? No.

  KEVIN

  I’m so sorry, I’m so sweaty, the elevator’s broken—

  SHE

  Oh no, you’re beautiful.

  She kisses him again.

  SHE AS ADA

  Of chestnuts.

  Oh, God, I want to kiss you all day!

  KEVIN AS LOVER

  And I you.

  She kisses him again. She starts laughing.

  SHE

  Sorry—there was a little crumb in your mouth.

  KEVIN

  Oh, sorry.

  He wipes the crumb.

  DIRECTOR

  Should we take it from the top? You don’t have to kiss this time, you could just indicate the kissing—with a gesture of some kind.

  SHE

  A gesture?

  DIRECTOR

  Sure.

  SHE

  Okay. Fine.

  SHE AS ADA

  (Turning toward Kevin as the lover) God, I love you. I love you I love you I love you.

  She sits on Kevin’s lap and makes a strange gesture substituting for the kiss.

  SHE AS ADA

  Your lips taste like—let me taste them again.

  Strange kiss gesture, still sitting on his lap.

  SHE AS ADA

  Of cherries? No.

  Strange gesture, still sitting on his lap.

  SHE AS ADA

  Of chestnuts.

  Oh, God, I want to kiss you all day!

  KEVIN AS LOVER

  And I you—

  SHE AS ADA

  (Overlapping with “And I you”) Until I am breathless with desire. The way I was when I was eighteen. Do you remember the lake?

  KEVIN AS LOVER

  I think I hear your husband.

  SHE AS ADA

  Hang it all!

  KEVIN AS LOVER

  Oh, darling. How can we have been apart this long?

  SHE AS ADA

  I do not know.

  I do not know.

  She stops and looks at the director. A pause.

  DIRECTOR

  Very nice work.

  SHE

  Oh, thank you.

  Really?

  DIRECTOR

  Yes.

  SHE

  Do you want me to do the second side?

  DIRECTOR

  No, that won’t be necessary.

  SHE

  I memorized it.

  DIRECTOR

  If you’d like to, go ahead.

  SHE

  Do you want to tell me anything about it?

  DIRECTOR

  Just have a go.

  She fumbles with her papers.

  SHE

  All right.

  I think I’ll stand, is it all right if I stand?

  DIRECTOR

  Whatever makes you most comfortable.

  SHE

  I’ll stand. No, I’ll sit.

  She sits.

  DIRECTOR

  Great.

  SHE

  (To Kevin) So now—you’ll be Millicent?

  KEVIN

  Right.

  SHE AS ADA

  Millicent, I’ve realized the reason it was impossible, so long ago . . .

  KEVIN AS MILLICENT

  There is always a reason, isn’t there?

  SHE AS ADA

  He was like champagne, champagne, but you can’t live on champagne your whole life, eventually you want bread, my husband is like bread—oh the smell of toast in the morning!

  KEVIN AS MILLICENT

  You think Jack is like—toast?

  SHE AS ADA

  But like the best toast in the world, no crumbs, (Seeing Kevin, laughing, then recovering) sorry, a toast that feeds you and feeds you in winter and is spread with the most gorgeous butter . . . I used to be afraid of putting too much butter on my toast, but the first night I spent with Jack, I woke up in the morning, and he put enormous quantities of butter on my toast, and I thought: I’ll love this man forever.

  KEVIN AS MILLICENT

  It’s such a relief to love your husband, is it not?

  SHE AS ADA

  (Saying the word “clear” the same way three times) Yes! Millicent, do you think that if life were properly understood, it would be beautiful all the time? Clear, clear, clear!

  (As herself) Sorry, can I go back?

  DIRECTOR

  Sure.

  SHE AS ADA

  (Saying the word “clear” differently every time) Millicent, do you think that if life were properly understood, it would be beautiful all the time? Clear, clear clear?

  KEVIN AS MILLICENT

  I think your life is beautiful, darling Ada . . . don’t leave us . . . don’t leave—me . . .

  SHE AS ADA

  I shan’t . . . I feel myself coming into the world again, I feel my strength returning. Millicent, I want to live. And I will live.

  (As herself) This is where I sing? />
  DIRECTOR

  Yes.

  Either we have an accompanist who nods to her and starts playing, or else she says:

  SHE

  A capella?

  And the director nods.

  She sings:

  SHE AS ADA

  Love me just shy of forever

  Or love me till six o clock

  Love me whatever the weather

  Love me in afghan or sweater

  Whether it’s May or December

  Oh love me just shy of forever

  Darling

  Love me past six o clock.

  She stops singing and looks at the director.

  SHE

  Was that all right?

  That was awful, I know, I can learn to sing, and I can learn to act, ha ha . . .

  Good-bye.

  She exits, quickly.

  Kevin and the director look at each other.

  She comes back.

  SHE

  I think I just left my bag . . .

  She grabs her bag, everything topples out of it.

  SHE

  Oh, right, the minor humiliations of life . . . sorry . . . good luck with your day, hope you see some good people, I haven’t auditioned for a play in like ten years . . .

  Everything keeps toppling out of her bag: water bottle, script, hairbrush, lipstick, etc.

  SHE

  Oh, just shoot me now . . . ha ha ha . . . Bye, (To director) thank you, (To Kevin) bye Tom—Devin—

  KEVIN

  Kevin—

  SHE

  Kevin!—you were great, I hope I didn’t get lipstick on you, I got this lipstick as a free sample you know and I think it was the wrong color for the character, it’s called Desert Storm, no that’s a war, Desert Flower, wouldn’t you love to have the job of naming lipsticks—or wars . . . right, okay, then, shoot me now. Okay, thanks guys, have a good afternoon.

  She exits.

  The reader and the director look at each other.

  DIRECTOR

  (With optimism and sincerity) She was good.

  Scene 2

  The first rehearsal.

  HE

  Hello.

  SHE

  Hello.

  HE

  I didn’t think you were working these days.

  SHE

  I wasn’t. I had a child.

  HE

  I’d heard. How old?

  SHE

  Sixteen.

  HE

  That’s great.