By Sarah A. Spitz
Santa Monica, CA (The Hollywood Times) 4/12/26…
Another first for the newly constructed Ruskin Group Theatre Arts Center in Santa Monica. Having just unveiled its new state-of-the-art complex in February with the play Honour on its Kaplan Family MainStage, last Friday, April 10, they inaugurated their versatile second stage, the 60-seat Audre Stage, opening with the production of a world premiere, Blue Kiss by local playwright Stephen Fife.
The tense two-hander depicts a troubled student and an uptight tutor, whose supposed reason for coming together is to help the student write her college essay. But there is a hidden agenda and an emotional connection between them that the teacher doesn’’t know about.
Todd’s (Casey Morris) prickly edge is immediately evident as he sighs impatiently at his fiancé’s non-stop phone calls about where to have dinner. There’s a touch of OCD about this guy, too, as he fusses with his desk and arranges books on a shelf just so, making him seem somewhat prissy.
When Susan (Carolina Rodriguez), enters it’s clear that she, too, is tightly wound. She begins challenging him immediately. Their get-together is off-kilter right out of the gate, and it only gets more fraught as tragic secrets are revealed.
Both tragedies involve violence, and in Susan’s case, gun violence: her father shot her mother, then himself. And she found the bodies.
The didactic Todd had given her an assignment and she subverts to her own means. He asked her to write two essays, one about something she loves and one about something she hates. She’s chosen “life” for both essays, why she loves it, why she hates it, unspooling her unsettling history and expectations.
They’re linked by Todd’s living brother, Matthew, and the story of how their other brother Lucas, came to be violently murdered. Lucas’s name was mispronounced as “Blue Kiss” and the moniker stuck. Susan and Matthew had a relationship that went awry, and she’s gotten his story about how Lucas died. Now she demands Todd tell her the truth about what really happened that night.
Neither of these characters seems particularly stable emotionally. Todd is more buttoned up until Susan wears him down.
The staging is simple, we’re in Todd’s living room, with his desk, two chairs, a couch, a coffee table, a bookcase filled with poetry and other literary works. Todd has an off-stage kitchen where he hopes that making some tea will take the chill off their immediate reactions to one another. Meanwhile Susan is taking advantage of his absence from the room to do some exploring. Todd explodes at her for it.
The tension is building and the conclusion is unexpected, though inevitable. The actors embodied their roles believably, and they worked well with one another under the direction of Mike Reilly.
At 85 minutes, Blue Kiss is a tautly constructed play, worth your time and consideration. It continues through May 17, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. Ruskin Group Theatre is located at 2800 Airport Ave., Santa Monica, parking is free and plentiful, and tickets are available at www.ruskingrouptheatre.com or by calling 310 397-3244.
