K-I-S-S-I-N-G
March 30,–April 2, 2023
A play by Lenelle Moïse
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
A co-production with the Front Porch Arts Collective
The Huntington
@ Calderwood/BCA
527 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02116
View the digital program book (coming soon!)
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Also available digitally in American Sign Language and with Audio Description
Approximate run time: 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Content advisory: For content advisories regarding this production, click here.
Show Synopsis:
Lala makes fine art on the back of pizza boxes. A sweet and sticky summer inspires her to romance Dani, a budding feminist – and Albert, his smooth-talking twin. What’s good? Love or lust? Either way, she’ll find her muse. Playwright and poet Lenelle Moïse returns to her hometown with a heart-opening story for fans of David Bowie, bell hooks, and fireworks by the Charles. The Front Porch Arts Collective hooks up with The Huntington for this highly anticipated co-production, directed by Dawn M. Simmons.
“A highlight of the theatre season! Visually sumptuous!”
The Boston Globe
“Wildly funny! Exquisite! K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a thing of beauty! A fully realized work of art on every level.”
WBUR
“The most exciting new play Boston has seen in years! Run, don’t walk!”
Chris Ehlers, Boston Theater Critics Association
“The most exhilarating show of the season. AN ABSOLUTE MUST SEE!”
Joyce Kulhawik/JoycesChoices.com
Cast and Crew:
Patrese D. McClain
Dot
Patrese D. McClain
Patrese D. McClain Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (The Huntington). Broadway tour of Jitney. Regional: Twilight (Syracuse Stage), Pipeline and Skeleton Crew (Actors Theatre), Short Shakes R&J (Chicago Shakes), The Mountaintop and Skeleton Crew (People’s Light), Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, and GeVa. Film: Widows, Captive State, BET’s Friend Request, and Workingman.
James Ricardo Milord
Jack
James Ricardo Milord
James Ricardo Milord is a Boston native and Haitian American actor. He returns to The Huntington in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone after recently appearing in Common Ground Revisited. Other recent credits include Paradise Blue (Gloucester Stage) and the premiere of Young Nerds of Color (Central Square Theater). Other credits include Pipeline (WAM, Front Porch, & Central Square Theater), A Christmas Carol (Underground Railway), The Handmaid’s Tale (Boston Lyric Opera), The Agitators and Cyrano (Gloucester Stage), Anna Christie and Barbecue (Lyric Stage), Akeelah and the Bee (Wheelock Family Theatre), and The Good Negro, Splendor, and The Brothers Size Trilogy (Company One).
Bobby Cius
Neighbor; U/S Dani, Albert
Bobby Cius
Bobby Cius Regional: Pass Over (Speakeasy Stage), The Three Musketeers (Greater Boston Stage Company), Black Odyssey Boston (Central Square Theater), and Pipeline (WAM & Central Square Theater). TV: Pause with Sam Jay (HBO).
Regan Sims
Lala
Regan Sims
Regan Sims Off Broadway: Bitter Greens (59E59) and The Beyonce (ART/NY). Regional: Three Sisters (Two River Theater); No Child… (Newton Theatre Company); Back to the Real (Crossroads Theatre Company); and Much Ado About Nothing (Thinkery&Verse).
Sharmarke Yusuf
Dani
Sharmarke Yusuf
Sharmarke Yusuf Regional: Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Lyric Stage Company); BLKS and People, Places & Things (SpeakEasy Stage).
Ivan Cecil Walks
Albert
Ivan Cecil Walks
Ivan C. Walks Regional: Passing Strange (Moonbox Productions, Elliot Norton Nomination), Winter’s Tale (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), and LORENA: A Tabloid Epic (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre).
Thomika Bridwell
U/S Dot
Thomika Bridwell
Thomika Bridwell The Front Porch Arts Collective: Chicken and Biscuits. Regional: A Christmas Carol (Hanover Theater), BLKS (SpeakEasy Stage), A Midsummers Night Dream (Boston Theater Company), Miss You Like Hell (Company One/ART), Coriolanus and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (Praxis Stage). IG: @QueenRegnant77 FB: ThomikaBridwell
Adrian Peguero
U/S Neighbor
Adrian Peguero
Front Porch Arts Collective: Chicken and Biscuits. The Huntington: Dream Boston. Regional: The Inheritance Parts 1 & 2 (Trinity Repertory) and Tiny Beautiful Things (Gloucester Stage Company). BFA in Theatre Performance (Salem State University).
Sandra Seoane-Serí
U/S Lala
Sandra Seoane-Serí
Sandra Seoane-Serí The Huntington: The Art of Burning and Arbor in the 2022 Breaking Ground Festival of New Work. Truth or Consequences by Andrew Siañez–De La O (FreshInk Theatre). BLKS (SpeakEasy Stage). SandraSeoaneSeri.com
Rodney Witherspoon II
U/S Jack
Rodney Witherspoon II
Front Porch Arts Collective: X, or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation. Regional: A Christmas Carol and The Inheritance (Trinity Repertory), Ironbound and It’s A Wonderful Life (Gamm Theatre), Cymbeline (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Wilbury Theatre Group), also Berkeley Rep, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Mixed Magic Theatre. Brown/Trinity Rep MFA. rodneywitherspoon.com
Lenelle Moïse
Playwright
Lenelle Moïse
Lenelle Moïse The Huntington: seventh cohort of Huntington Playwriting Fellows. She wrote, composed and co-starred in the Off Broadway show Expatriate (Culture Project).
Dawn M. Simmons
Director
Dawn M. Simmons
Dawn M. Simmons Front Porch Arts Collective: Queens Girl In the World and The Three Musketeers. The Huntington: K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Regional: JAG Productions, Play On Shakespeare, The Hangar Theatre, WAM Theater, Lyric Stage Company, Central Square Theater, New Repertory Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, SpeakEasy Stage, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Bad Habit Productions, New Exhibition Room, Boston Public Works, Fresh Ink Theatre, and Our Place Theatre Project.
Jason Ardizzone-West
Scenic Designer
Jason Ardizzone-West
Jason Ardizzone-West The Huntington: The Bluest Eye. Off-Broadway: Elyria (Atlantic); Wedding Band (TFNA); The Michaels, Illyria, Women of a Certain Age, What Did You Expect?, Hungry (The Public Theater); Uncle Vanya (Hunter Theatre Project, WNET 13 TV); Good Grief (The Vineyard). Regional: From the Mississippi Delta (Westport); Grace (Fords); Bliss (5th Avenue Theatre); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Berkeley Rep); Once On This Island (Cincinnati Playhouse & Actor’s Theatre of Louisville); Uncle Vanya (Old Globe).
Dominique Fawn Hill
Costume Designer
Dominique Fawn Hill
Broadway: Fat Ham. Off Broadway: Fat Ham (The Public Theater), Dark Girl Chronicles: CHRONICLE X (The Shed), and 125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre). Regional: An Untitled New Play by Justin Timberlake, One Night in Miami…, and Pipeline (City Theatre Company); Journeys to Justice (Portland Opera); Mlima’s Tale (Profile Theatre); STEW (Soho Rep); Hedwig and The Angry Inch and Rent (Portland Center Stage); Grace (Ford’s Theatre); Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons/CTG); and Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (MTC). dominiquefhill.com
Jorge Arroyo
Lighting Designer
Jorge Arroyo
Jorge Arroyo Off Broadway: Whisper House (The Civilians); Southern Promises (Flea Theatre); Sawbones and The Diamond Eater (HERE Arts Center); and Marion Bridge (Urban Stages). Regional: Lend Me A Soprano (Alley Theater), Into the Woods and Charlotte’s Web (Arden Theater); Unspeakable (Apollo Theater); A Christmas Carol (Westport Country Playhouse); The Fantasticks (People’s Light and Theatre Company); The Garbologists (City Theater Company); When Aliens Fall From The Sky (ASU Gammage); Oklahoma! (Weston Playhouse); The Legend of Georgia McBride (Theatre Squared); and Maria, Regina D’Inghilterra (Odyssey Opera) jorgearroyo.com
Anna Drummond
Sound Design
Anna Drummond
Anna Drummond (Sound Designer) is a Boston-based sound designer specializing in live theatre, SFX curation, podcasting, and audiobooks. They work within the Northeast area for professional theatre companies and educational institutions. Front Porch Arts Collective: Chicken & Biscuits. The Huntington: Dream Boston: 3 Miles. Regional: BLKS and Pass Over (SpeakEasy Stage); Leftovers, Black Super Hero Magic Mama, and can i touch it? (Company One); Shrike and Truth or Consequences (Fresh Ink Theatre); Eurydice, Prowess, and soul tapes (Trinity Rep & Brown University). University: Married or Made (Harvard University); Everybody, Machinal, and As You Like It (Boston Conservatory at Berklee); Deferred, This Is Treatment, and Problem Play (Northeastern University); Paris (Emerson College). BA with Honors in Sound Design/Audio Post-Production from the Visual & Media Arts Department of Emerson College. anna-drummond.com @annatdrummond
Yee Eun Nam
Co-Projection Design
Yee Eun Nam
Theatre projects include Audible Theatre, Ma-Yi Theater Company, SohoRep, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, The Movement Theatre Company, Kansas City Rep, Wallis Annenberg Center, Latino Theater Company. Opera/Music projects include Detroit Opera, Opera Omaha, LA Opera, Opera Saint Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, REDCAT, SF Symphony, LA Chamber Orchestra. She was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Long Day’s Journey into The Night in 2022 and won the LADCC Theatrical Excellence for CGI/Video in 2020 for Mother of Henry with LTC. She founded an experimental visual design studio, PIGMENT DESIGN LAB. She is a member of USA, Local 829. MFA in Theater Design at UCLA. BFA in Design and Metal Craft at SNU in Seoul, Korea
Hannah Tran
Co-Projection Design
Hannah Tran
Hannah Tran Off Broadway: Long Day’s Journey into Night (Audible), The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre Company), Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional: Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Laguna Playhouse, and Utah Shakespeare Festival. MFA Candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. hannahtran.com
Charles Haugland
Dramaturg
Charles Haugland
Charles Haugland is the Director of New Work for The Huntington, and is currently in his fifteenth season with the company. His dramaturgical credits at The Huntington include world premiere productions by Kirsten Greenidge, Craig Lucas, Gina Gionfriddo, Lydia Diamond, and Melinda Lopez, along with co-creating the audio play series Dream Boston.
Sondra R. Katz
General Manager
Sondra R. Katz
Sondra R. Katz (General Manager) is in her nineteenth season at the Huntington. She has worked on Broadway, Off Broadway, and regionally as a stage manager, company manager, production manager and general manager.
Alaine Alldaffer
Casting
Alaine Alldaffer
Alaine Alldaffer, she/her (Casting) Huntington: numerous credits since 2000. New York: casting director for Playwrights Horizons, where credits include Grey Gardens (also for Broadway), Clybourne Park (also for Broadway), Circle Mirror Transformation (Drama Desk and Obie awards for Best Ensemble and an Artios Award for casting), The Flick (Playwrights Horizons and Barrow Street Theatre)
Rosalind Bevan
Local Casting
Rosalind Bevan
Rosalind Bevan is the Casting & Producing Associate at The Huntington, and she is a producer and director. The Huntington: Assistant Director of Witch; Director for two Dream Boston audio plays: Echoes by Patrick Gabridge and The 54th in ‘22 by Kirsten Greenidge.
Lauren J. Burke
Production Stage Manager
Lauren J. Burke
Lauren J. Burke is excited to be working on another production with Dawn and the Front Porch Arts Collective after stage managing Queens Girl in the World. Other credits include: Revels, North Shore Music Theatre, SpeakEasy, Central Square theatre, Hangar Theatre, WAM, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, American Repertory Theatre, Reagle Music Theatre, Boston University, Lyric Stage, Brandeis University, Boston Opera Collaborative, Harvard University, Suffolk University, Poets’ Theatre, Israeli Stage, Boston Ballet and her favorite credit to date: Managing Flour Bakery. Lauren received her BA from Suffolk University and is a member of Actor’s Equity Association.
Kevin Schlagle
Stage Manager
Kevin Schlagle
Kevin Schlagle* (Stage Manager) has worked on over 40 productions in 14 seasons with The Huntington including Our Daughters, Like Pillars; Witch; The Purists; Yerma; Sherlock’s Last Case; Merrily We Roll Along; Ripcord; Topdog/Underdog; Sunday in the Park with George; Milk Like Sugar; A Confederacy of Dunces; A Little Night Music; Come Back, Little Sheba; Smart People; Our Town, and Prelude to a Kiss. Other theatre credits include American Repertory Theater, New Repertory Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. His opera credits include Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Baroque, Boston Opera Collaborative, Guerilla Opera, New England Conservatory, Boston University Opera Institute, and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. He holds a BFA in stage management from Boston University and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.
Kendyl Trott
Stage Manager
Kendyl Trott
Huntington: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Common Ground Revisited. Regional: The Tempest (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Handbook of Civilian Defense, Ubu Roar (Juvenilia Theatre Company), WITNESS (Arlekin Players Theatre) The Tempest, Equivocation (Actors’ Shakespeare Project). Education: BA in Theatre Arts (Focus in Stage Management).
ADDITIONAL STAFFING FOR K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Assistant Director- Kelsey Fonise
Choreographer- Misha Shields
Intimacy Consultant- Gregory Geffrard
Voice Coach- Christine Hamel, Rebecca Schneebaum
Production Assistants- Kendyl Trott, Ross Gray, Hannah Marks
Assistant Scenic Designer- Baron Pugh
Carpenters- Steven Asaro, Thomas Capelli, Joe Ellard, Will Stanley, Michelle Walker, Amy West
Props Run- Corey Roberts
Scenic Artists- Sam Galvao, Saskia Martinez
Wardrobe Run- Emily Keebler
Wardrobe Swing- Becca Jewett
Assistant to Lighting Designer- Eduardo Ramirez
Electricians- Hannah Ashe, Kevin Barnett, Dean Covert, Makenna Harden, Miller Koppang, Baz Kouba, Toni Locurto, Jessie Marasco, Cindy Wade
Audio Run- Lexie Lankiewicz
Projections Programmer- Massimiliano DiMartino
Cultural Consultant- New England Aces – http://www.neaces.org/
BOSTON CRITICS HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Read The Boston Globe review
Read the WBUR review
Read the METR Mag review
Read the Joyces Choices review
COVID SAFETY POLICY FOR K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Masks are encouraged but are no longer required for any performances.
Anyone who feels uncomfortable can ask the House Manager about alternative options which may include:
- a better quality mask
- a new seat further distanced from other patrons
- re-scheduling for a different performance
- a shift to the at-home Digital Streaming option, when applicable
Any patron interested in attending a different performance will be able to exchange their tickets by contacting our ticketing services staff.
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING ANY COVID SYMPTOMS, STAY HOME.
If on the day of your performance, you are experiencing any COVID symptoms, please reach out to the box office to easily exchange to a different performance or to the at-home Digital Streaming option.
Please contact Ticketing Services at 617-266-0800 or tickets@huntingtontheatre.org for more information about exchanges and contact covidsafety@huntingtontheatre.org with any questions or concerns.