Emjoy and Kelsey looking at each other, slightly smiling — Emjoy Gavino & Kelsey Angel Baehrens. Photo by Rich Ryan.

Thank you for seeing Stop Kiss by Diana Son and directed by Katie Bradley. Click here for PDF version of the playbill, scroll down to read, or use our table of contents.

Callie Emjoy Gavino*

Sara Kelsey Angel Baehrens*

George Clay Man Soo*

Mrs. Winsley/Nurse Lily Tung Crystal*

Detective Cole James Rodríguez*

Acting Fellow: Peter Moses Ekel

Callie (understudy) Michelle de Joya

Sara (understudy) Jenny Tam

George (understudy) Moses Ekel

Mrs. Winsley/Nurse (understudy) Sydney Lin

Detective Cole (understudy) Keivin Vang

Peter (understudy) James Rodríguez

LEAD CREATIVE & PRODUCTION

Playwright Diana Son

Director Katie Bradley

Stage Manager Jessica Goldade Swanson*

Assistant Stage Manager Elijah Virgil Hughes

Production Manager Rachael Rhoades

Scenic Designer Erik Paulson

Properties Designer Abbee Warmboe

Sound Designer Katharine Horowitz

Costume Designer Khamphian Vang

Lighting Designer Karin Olson^

Associate Director Emma Y. Lai

Technical Co-Directors Erin Carroll Gustafson & Austin Stiers

Intimacy Director Suzy Messerole

Head Electrician Kurt Jung

Front of House Manager Kelsey Heathcote

COMPANY

Sound Crew Richard Graham

Electricians Dante Benjegerdes, Shannon Elliott, Lindsay Fulton, Bevibel Harvey, Johnna Johnson, Louis Thiessen

Scenic Charge Emerson Stenbeck

ASL Interpreters Jenae Farnham & Alyssa Hill

Audio Describer Laurie Pape Hadley

*Appearing through an agreement between Theater Mu and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

^Member of the United States Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE, a labor union and professional association of designers, artists, craftspeople, and department coordinators

SHOW INFORMATION

Run time: one hour and 45 minutes, no intermission

Content warning: Stop Kiss explores themes of anti-LGBTQ+ violence. The play includes graphic description of a hate crime, which is not depicted onstage; adult language and situations; homophobia and homophobic slurs; sexism; and onstage costume changes (character wears bra and underwear).

Need a moment? If you need to exit the production at any point, you can access the lobby from either side of the auditorium. There, you can find a seat, get water, or relate your needs to the front-of house staff.

Accessibility: Sensory kits and large-print playbills are available at all performances, and the front of house can assist you if you need specific seats. Open captions will run during the evening shows June 21 *28, audio description will accompany the. June 22 matinee, and ASL interpretation will accompany the June 28 matinee. All Sunday performances will require audience members to be masked, preferable with KN95s or N95s.

SPECIAL THANKS

Stephen DiMenna, Eric Lucas, Rich Remedios & Keely Burrell Remedios, Eric Sharp, and Alli St. John.

Original New York Production by the New York Shakespeare Festival, George C. Wolfe, Producer. This play was written with support from Playwrights Horizons made possible in part by funds granted to the author through a program sponsored by Amblin Entertainment, Inc.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The earth we are standing on, Mni Sota MaKoce, is the ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Dakota people whose creation story began at the confluence of the Wakpá Tháŋka and the Mnísota Wakpá, also known as the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. As Asian Americans, our history in this land has, at times, walked in solidarity with Native peoples. We have also benefited from their displacement. Because of this, in addition to a land acknowledgment, Theater Mu is working to honor the Indigenous community through these practices:

Starting in 2025, we provide free mainstage tickets for Native/Indigenous community members. Head to bit.ly/mu-ap if you’d like to partner with us.
We intentionally invite Native and Indigenous artists to join our training and mentorship opportunities to share knowledge, deepen relationships, and support Native theater artists.
We amplify Native arts and cultural events in our newsletters and social media.
We commit to continuing our education on the history of this land and our responsibilities to it.
We continuously examine further ways we can support, engage, and amplify the Native community.

We invite you to join us in reflecting on your own relationship to Indigenous sovereignty. Find resources and learn more about Mu’s living action plan by visiting our website.

Thank you to the Native Governance Center for their guidance in assembling these resources.

LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

It is a deep honor to write my first artistic director note to you, the supporters of Theater Mu. It is my hope to continue Mu’s mission of uplifting stories of the AAPI community, reflecting the people of the Twin Cities and the country at large. I look forward to meeting and engaging with each one of you as I make my transition and relocation from Los Angeles to Minneapolis-St. Paul.

But first let me welcome you to Stop Kiss at the Gremlin Theatre.

Diana Son’s play premiered in 1998, credited as one of the first off-Broadway productions to focus on queer women. Two decades later, it is the kind of play I wish we could say is outdated, because I’d like to believe our world has evolved since then. But its themes and events are still tragically a part of our society today, and it is our job as artists to ruminate and reflect on this.

In the original cast, one of the two leads was played by the luminary Sandra Oh, alongside a diverse group of actors. For this production, we envision the love story through the lens of two Asian-American women. We are illuminating the story from a perspective seldom examined; interrogating the intersectionality and layered realities in the navigation of identity, cultural expectation, and belonging. Does that change the story? Does it resonate on a different level? I invite you to question these for yourself, and encourage you to share your conclusions with each other.

Helmed by the multi-talented Katie Bradley, Stop Kiss is a love story that unfolds quietly, awkwardly, with truth and sensitivity. Her direction invites us all to question what it means to live authentically, even in the face of violence or misunderstanding. Coming from a very personal place, Katie’s vision coupled with Diana’s words and this incredible cast aims to awaken, rupture, and ultimately heal, together.

Thank you for joining us in this space. Thank you for saying yes to love in all its complexities and forms. And thank you for welcoming me into the Twin Cities community.

Mabuhay!

Fran de Leon

Q&A with the Playwright

Diana Son’s Stop Kiss premiered off-Broadway in 1998 at the Public Theater in a run that was extended three times, making it the longest running non-musical play since A Chorus Line. It went on to win a 1999 GLAAD Media Award and a 1999 New York Times “best of,” among other accolades. Since then, it has settled into the heart of the American and Asian American theater canons as a play that puts love and people first before any labels.

“I had the great fortune of connecting with playwright Diana Son before our rehearsals process began, during which time she graciously provided myself and the team with a version of the script that was slightly tweaked from the original published version,” director Katie Bradley says.

“She explained that she wanted to flush out some of the supporting characters for today’s audiences, for how people view and interpret things have changed over the years. The cast and stage management team also had a wonderful conversation with Son when we started rehearsals, which I feel set the tone for our process in the rehearsal room and further strengthened our commitment to celebrating the love the story portrays.”

Here are just a few snippets of one of Son’s conversations with Theater Mu!

We know you’ve answered this a million times, but what inspired the play?

A lot of different things, many of which only occurred to me many years after it premiered because of events in my life that had nothing to do with sexuality, but with being a young person on the cusp of adulthood.

My mom had a massive stroke when I was 18. She walked in the door like life was normal, said hello, and then had a massive stroke and was never the same again. She was paralyzed afterwards—couldn’t speak—and lived for 20 more years in this severely reduced state. So No. 1, for me, is that Stop Kiss is an exploration about how life can change on a dime.

It’s also about identity, and being willing to change your identity and explore who you are through another person. … It’s about how—I’ve actually never said this before—how you can change from the experience of being loved and how love changes you.

Can you tell us a little bit about the tweaks you did to the script?

I made the smallest, barely perceptible tweaks for the [25th anniversary] reunion reading [in 2024 with the original cast]. There were just a few scenes where I thought, “I’m not serving these people well enough, Mrs. Winsley in particular and Detective Cole and Peter as well.”

I have found over the years that people don’t always portray the full humanity of these characters. …

Nobody’s a bad guy in this play. The audience should feel for everybody. I remember in the premiere production, a friend of the actor who played Peter told him, “You know, you have the hardest role in this play because before we meet you, we just want to hate you [as a romantic rival]. And then you appear and we can’t.”

Is there a moment that hit you again fresh from the "Stop Kiss" reunion reading?

When I wrote Stop Kiss, I was married to a man, and I was married to him for 20-some years. But I’m currently in a relationship with a woman and will be with her for the rest of our lives. And watching the reunion reading I was struck by what a celebration of the way women connect and fall in love with each other it is.

Before I got married and certainly before this play, you know, I knew that I thought of my sexuality as being fluid and responsive to whoever I was in love with. And even though my relationship with my partner isn’t necessarily like the relationship between Callie and Sara, I can really enjoy how dynamic and fun and funny and beautiful the love between two women can be.

I’ve been in talks to do a revival production with a new cast, and there’s some talk about, “Oh, would you want to update it [to modern times]”? And I was like, “You cannot tell this story with cell phones. The story just would not proceed. They would be texting, you know? Sandra [Oh, who originated the role of Sara,] said the funniest thing when we were doing the reunion reading. … She was like, “Oh, Callie would never have answered my texts. We wouldn’t have happened.”

Two people being awkward and having to work it out—it’s so much harder these days because we’re not in rooms together hashing it out. … Callie and Sara would have started texting after that first meeting, you know? So I think the play still really values that personal, in-person connection and does explore how difficult it can be, how fraught it can be.

THOUGHTS FROM THE CAST

“From the play itself to the humans in the rehearsal room, Stop Kiss is a daily reminder for me that love heals and inspires change in people’s hearts.” —Kelsey Angel Baehrens

“Stop Kiss remains a relevant and important piece of work because of its honesty. It confronts the audience with pain and discomfort, yet ultimately offers a breath of fresh air in its portrayal of human experience.” —Moses Ekel

“I was first introduced to this play in college. It’s one of those classic plays that rarely is done today, but many actors in training will likely do a scene from it, because the writing is really familiar.” —Clay Man Soo

“Stop Kiss is brilliant in that Diana Son is able to talk about an incredibly hard subject, a moment of violence, but it’s all grounded in love, so what we’re left with... is love.” —Lily Tung Crystal

“The rehearsal culture has been one of sharing, wonder, and complete awe that such a seemingly simple, sweet, and heartbreaking story has stood the test of time.” —James Rodríguez

“The text has been cracked open in a beautiful way because of the people saying these words out loud—there isn’t one minority to represent all minorities in the American experience here.” —Emjoy Gavino

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

When I first began telling people I was directing Stop Kiss, I was struck by how personal the play was to so many of my theater colleagues. People would remark, “This was my first professional production!” or, “I read this play when I was young and it changed my life!” Ultimately, I found myself a bit jealous of my colleagues and their nostalgic reactions, for I hadn’t read Stop Kiss until last year when I was attached to direct the production at Theater Mu. If I had crossed paths with the play earlier in my life, it might have helped me determine my own identity as a bisexual person sooner, for the power of a story and seeing your own confusions in permanent ink can help you feel validated and supported.

But as they say, better late than never.

There are so many things I love about Stop Kiss. I love that it’s a story about two people who fall unexpectedly and electrically in love. I love that all of the characters are flawed and doing their best to move through an oftentimes harsh world. And I also love that the story is told out of chronological order, which allows the audience to remain active in the story’s unfolding and gives us a chance to see the future and piece it together with the past.

It’s this back-and-forth timeline that made me think about memory and what happens when a monumental event takes place. The sequence of things might be fuzzy and we might not be able to remember the exact conversation that occurred, but perhaps we are able to recall, in full electric detail, the color of the couch in the room or the glare of the street lights and the loose muffler sound of a car driving by. In my work with Stop Kiss, I was interested in subtly teasing out these sensory elements that Callie and Sara experience not only as they begin to discover their feelings for one another, but also as they move through the shock and aftermath of the physical assault committed against them.

Stop Kiss takes place in the late 1990s, and although it’s been 27 years since its premiere in New York, it is still incredibly relevant today. It is a timeless story of people trying to connect, of caretaking for someone else, and unfortunately, of people being targeted and persecuted for whom they love. I want audiences to leave the theater feeling hopeful, but also with the reminder that we have a long way to go in our fight for queer justice and equality.

Katie Bradley

CAST BIOS

Kelsey Angel Baehrens* (Sara)

Kelsey (she/her) is honored to be back at Mu after having a life-changing experience as Jenée in Blended 和 (Harmony) (co-pro w/ History Theatre). She just wrapped East West Players’ production of Cambodian Rock Band as Neary/Sothea after understudying the tour, directed by Chay Yew, in 2022/23. Next up, King Lear at Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival as Cordelia/Fool. Other fave acting credits: Peter/Wendy (Peter Pan), Lizzie: the Rock Musical (Alice), Henry IV p1 (Hotspur), first national tour of TheaterWorksUSA’s The Magic School Bus (Wanda). Directing credits: Hawai‛i premiere of Kate Hamill’s Pride & Prejudice; associate director for Jeannette, a new musical; assistant to director Jess McLeod, co-producer for the all-wahine Talk Story Collective. | kelseyangelbaehrens.com

Lily Tung Crystal* (Mrs. Winsley/Nurse)

Lily (she/her) is an actor/singer, director, and artistic director of East West Players in Los Angeles. She is thrilled to be making her Mu mainstage acting debut after recently serving as its artistic director. Favorite acting credits include: Mrs. Shin/God (Good Person of Szechwan, Cal Shakes), Mother (Interstate, Mixed Blood), Judge Zerbe/Chin (The Courtroom, Jungle Theater), Prosecutor Li (Chinglish, Portland Center Stage/Syracuse Stage), Amanda (Private Lives, Whirligig Theatre), Lulu (Cabaret, SF Playhouse), Mrs. Park (Jay Kuo’s Homeland, Magic Theatre; New World Stages), and Korean #2 (Songs of the Dragons, Crowded Fire; BATCC nomination). Lily has directed at Mu, Park Square, Jungle Theater, and History Theatre, most recently the world premiere of R.A. Shiomi’s Secret Warriors. She is a three-time Theatre Bay Area Award Finalist for Outstanding Direction. | lilytungcrystal.com

Moses Ekel (Acting Fellow: Peter; George u/s)

Moses (he/him) is an Indonesian American actor, singer, and songwriter based in the Twin Cities. After a brief hiatus, he is beyond excited to return to the stage for his Theater Mu debut! You may also know Moses as local indie/R&B artist, MUSA. His recent debut EP, Beauty Sinner, can be found on all major streaming platforms, and he’ll be performing his music throughout the summer. Previous credits include: History Theatre (Secret Warriors), the Art of Reconciliation (Little Shop of Horrors, Jane Eyre), CPA Theatricals (The Moment!), and the Chicago College of Performing Arts (Color Me, American Songbook). | mosesekel.com

Emjoy Gavino* (Callie)

Emjoy (she/her) is an actor, casting director, and an enthusiastic if not amateur karaoke-er. At the Guthrie: The Mousetrap, A Christmas Carol, Vietgone; Steppenwolf: Animal Farm, You Got Older, The Drunken City; A Red Orchid: Do You Feel Anger?; Gift Theatre: …Little Voice, Kentucky; About Face: Bull in a China Shop; Hypocrites: You on the Moors Now; Second City: Realish Housewives; Victory Gardens: Failure: A Love Story; Paramount Theatre: Hair; Court Theatre: Electra, Wait Until Dark; Broadway Playhouse: Working; Lookingglass: Act(s) of God, The Arabian Nights; the NeoFuturists: …Neo-Futurist Christmas Carol; ReAct: The Violet Hour; A.C.T.: A Christmas Carol; Studio Theatre: Cry It Out; IRT/Syracuse Stage: Clue. Film/television include: The Exorcist, Chicago Fire/Med. Emjoy is also the founder of the Chicago Inclusion Project. | emjoygavino.com

Clay Man Soo* (George)

Clay (he/him) is an Asian American actor and teaching artist. Previous Mu credits include A Korean Drama Addict’s Guide… and Inside Out & Back Again. Clay has also performed with the Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, History Theatre, Frank Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Pillsbury House + Theatre, TigerLion Arts, Playwrights’ Center, among others. Training: Gustavus Adolphus College, GRSF Actor Apprenticeship, Mu Training Institute, Remedios Creative, Huge Theater, Encompass Collective NYC, the Celebration Barn Theater, and from several actors, directors, and playwrights. He is a resident teaching artist at Pillsbury House + Theatre, History Theatre, Upstream Arts, and a lead teaching artist at Theater Mu. In the fall, Clay will begin the MFA acting program at UC San Diego. | claymansoo.com

James Rodríguez* (Detective Cole; Peter u/s)

James (he/him) is Twin Cities-based theater artist. He is so incredibly grateful and excited to be making his Theater Mu debut! His work has been seen with many of the region’s leading theaters including the Guthrie Theater, the Jungle Theater, Theater Latté Da, the Playwrights’ Center, the Children’s Theatre Company, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Dark & Stormy Productions, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Yellow Tree Theatre, and Mixed Blood Theatre, among others. James also serves on the board of directors for the Jungle Theater.

Michelle de Joya (Callie u/s)

Michelle (they/she) is a Filipino American, Twin Cities-based performer, playwright, and teaching artist. Past acting credits include: Rent (Artistry); The Hatmaker’s Wife (Ten Thousand Things); The Kung Fu Zombies Saga (Theater Mu); Vietgone, Heart Sellers (Guthrie Theater); Bina’s Six Apples (Children’s Theatre Company); Chicago (Theater Latté Da); The Brothers Paranormal (Penumbra & Theater Mu); The Wolves, The Courtroom (Jungle Theater); Passing Strange, Sherwood (Yellow Tree Theater) and more. Michelle is a member of the 2024/25 Exposed Brick emerging writers cohort, and is excited for her upcoming 2025-27 Jerome fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center. | facebook.com/dejoya.michelle

Sydney Lin (Mrs. Winsley/Nurse u/s)

Sydney (she/her) is overjoyed to be returning to Theater Mu. She is a Twin Cities-based performer and teaching artist with a BFA in musical theatre acting from Minnesota State University Mankato. Her regional theatre credits include Blended 和 (Harmony) (Theater Mu/History Theatre); Waitress, Sweet Charity (Artistry); Hansel & Gretel’s Magical Adventure (Sidekick Theatre); Spongebob the Musical! (Clinton Area Showboat Theatre & Highland Summer Theatre). She is currently the production manager and an acting artist at CLIMB Theatre.

Jenny Tam (Sara u/s)

Jenny (she/they) is excited to join Theater Mu for the first time as the understudy for Sara in Stop Kiss! Jenny previously worked on the world premiere of Muyehpen and Murdered to Death. In addition to stage acting, she has appeared in several short and feature films in the Twin Cities. When not acting, they’re busy with community building projects and bouldering at the Minneapolis Bouldering Project.

Keivin Vang (Detective Cole u/s)

Keivin (he/him) is an actor based in the Twin Cities metro area. With specialty in acting, directing, and dancing, he has performed regionally for Frank Theatre’s Sanctuary City; Stages Theatre Company and Theater Mu’s The Name Jar; Full Circle Theater’s Fire in The New World, Antigonick; UMN TAD’s season 2018/19 Lament of the Dead Things; Theatre23’s Coyfish; Carved Out Theatre’s Spring Awakening, Southeast Asian Diaspora’s (SEAD’s) Stories from Naga, Nco Ntsoov Kev Cai: A Story of Remembrance. He hopes to inspire and help Asian youth in pursuing a career in arts.

Company BIOS

Diana Son (playwright)

Diana (she/her) is an Emmy-nominated TV showrunner and writer/producer, and an award-winning playwright. She is currently developing TV projects for Netflix and ABC and is executive producer of the upcoming Amazon series Butterfly starring Daniel Dae Kim. Other TV projects include Genius: Aretha, season one of Thirteen Reasons Why, ABC’s American Crime, Dirty John, Southland, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, West Wing, and others. Plays include Stop Kiss (GLAAD Media Award, Berilla Kerr Award for playwriting, John Gassner Playwriting Prize nominee), Satellites, BOY, and R.A.W. (‘Cause I’m a Woman). Diana is co-emcee of the Writer’s Guild of America East’s Showrunner Bootcamp, a past recipient of an NEA/TCG residency at the Mark Taper Forum, a past Brooks Atkinson fellow at the National Theatre in London, and was program chair of the Dramatists Guild Foundation’s Playwriting Fellowship (2013-19). She is the mother of three sons and lives in Brooklyn.

Katie Bradley (director & producer)

Katie (she/her) served Theater Mu as interim artistic director from July 2024 through spring 2025, but she has worked with the company in many different capacities since 2006. As an actor at Mu, she has appeared onstage in several productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Into the Woods, and The Kung Fu Zombies Saga: Shaman Warrior & Cannibals. She made her directorial debut in 2022 with Mu’s production of Man of God and recently directed the world premiere of Hells Canyon. Outside of Mu, Katie has acted with several theater companies including the Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things, Children’s Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Pacific Conservatory Theatre.

Jessica Goldade Swanson* (stage manager)

Jessica (she/her) is excited to be making her Theater Mu debut with this incredible cast and creative team. Previous productions include Waitress, Pajama Game, Shrek, and Memphis with Artistry and A Unique Assignment and The Boy Wonder at History Theatre. She has also worked in production, operations, and administrative positions at Ordway, Artistry, Children’s Theatre Company, and the Old Log Theater.

Elijah Virgil Hughes (assistant stage manager)

Elijah (they/them) is a stage manager and actor new to the Twin Cities. This is their first show with Theater Mu, and they are delighted to work with such an incredible group of people! They have just completed their stage management fellowship at Children’s Theatre Company, where they worked on Drawing Lessons, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Milo Imagines the World, and Frozen.

Rachael Rhoades (production manager)

Rachael (she/her) is a Saint Paul-based stage manager, production manager, and event planner. Companies Rachael has had the pleasure of working with include Illusion Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Theater Latté Da, Frank Theatre, Park Square Theatre, the History Theatre, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, TEDX Minneapolis, Collide Theatrical Dance Company, Guthrie Theater, the Ordway, and Theater Mu. Rachael is the production + project manager for Pillsbury House + Theatre in South Minneapolis, as well as the production consultant for Brownbody, a figure skating + dance + theatre company based in Saint Paul, recently presented as an artist in residence by the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard. Rachael lives on her houseboat on the Mississippi River with her three kitty cats, and enjoys immersing herself in nature whenever possible. BA in theatre arts: University of Iowa.

Erin Carroll Gustafson (technical co-director)

Erin (they/she) is happy to be back with Theater Mu as a technical co-director. They have previously worked on Mu shows including Hells Canyon and Fifty Boxes of Earth. Around the community Erin works at many venues and companies including Youth Performance Company, Artistry, and the O’Shaughnessy. Erin is grateful to their wife for being supportive and willing to park on the street so that the set for Stop Kiss could get built and painted in their garage.

Katharine Horowitz (sound designer)

Katharine (she/her) is a theatrical sound designer and composer in Minneapolis, MN. Previous Mu designs include Fifty Boxes of Earth, Hells Canyon, Man of God, Hot Asian Doctor Husband, and Purple Cloud. She has designed critically acclaimed and award-winning shows for the Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Theater Latté Da, Artistry, the Jungle Theater, History Theatre, Gremlin Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Park Square Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Second City Theatricals, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, Creed Repertory Theatre, and many others. Katharine is a 2017 McKnight theatre artist fellow at the Playwrights’ Center. | katsound.com

Kurt Jung (head electrician)

Kurt (he/him) is a freelance lighting technician throughout the Twin Cities, and was also head electrician for Theater Mu’s prodution of Fifty Boxes of Earth. He is the lighting supervisor for Park Square Theatre. Kurt lives with his wife Molly, their two kids, and an ever expanding menagerie of animals, including chickens, a ball python, and a Russian tortoise.

Emma Y. Lai (associate director)

Emma (she/her) is a Taiwanese new works director and playwright. Favorite directing/assisting credits include the world premieres of: When You Trap a Tiger by Katie Hae Leo (Theater Mu/Stages Theatre Company), The Garden: A New Folk Musical by Hannah Bakke (Childrens’ Theatre Company TAT), Devoured by Liqing Xu (Southern Theatre/PWC), Your Own Personal Exegesis by Julia May Jonas (dir. Annie Tippe; LCT3 at Lincoln Center), and The Hombres by Tony Meneses (dir. Annie Tippe; Two River Theater). She was a member of Theater Mu’s emerging playwrights circle and currently is a member of PlayPenn’s playwrights cohort. Emma will be attending Carnegie Mellon for a MFA in dramatic writing in the fall. | emmaylai.com

Suzy Messerole (intimacy director)

Suzy (she/her) is a Twin Cities-based intimacy director, theater director, and passionate advocate for equity in the arts. She is the co-founder/co-artistic director (with Aamera Siddiqui) of Exposed Brick Theatre, where she recently directed the world premiere of Siddiqui’s Log Kya Kahenge. Suzy is thrilled to return to Theater Mu as an intimacy director after having previously directed Katie Hae Leo’s Four Destinies. Suzy’s intimacy direction training is through IDC Professionals, and this spring she served as the intimacy director for Close to Home at Pillsbury House + Theatre. In addition to theater, Suzy is a lead organizer with the Million Artist Movement and a member of the Subversive Sirens, a social justice synchronized swimming team.

Karin Olson (lighting designer)

Karin (she/her) has designed over 20 Mu productions including recent productions of The Song Poet (w/ MN Opera), Fifty Boxes of Earth, Hells Canyon, and both incarnations of Kung Fu Zombies. Some other recent designs include MN Opera’s The Snowy Day at the Ordway, I Am Betty at the History Theatre, Johnny Skeeky at Theater Latté Da, and Into The Burrow: A Peter Rabbit Story at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta—which won a Suzi Bass Award for outstanding design. Karin is a 2023/24 McKnight theater artist fellow. | karinolsonlighting.com

Erik Paulson (scenic designer)

Erik (he/him) is a scenic and lighting designer based in the Twin Cities and the technical director of Augsburg University’s theater department. He collaborated recently with Theater Mu on Hells Canyon and Again. He has designed for companies including History Theatre (Secret Warriors, Tyrone and Ralph), Park Square Theatre (The Humans, Holmes/Poirot), Old Log Theater (11 seasons as resident designer), the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Comedy of Errors), Great River Shakespeare Festival (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Henry IV Part I), Madison Opera (The Turn of the Screw), and Nautilus Music-Theater (Carousel, Man of La Mancha).

Austin Stiers (technical co-director)

Austin (he/him) is a Saint Paul-based technical director. He has worked all over the Twin Cities, usually with an emphasis in educational theatre, and he is very excited to be back working with Theater Mu! Past Theater Mu credits include: Hells Canyon, The Kung Fu Zombies Saga, and Fifty Boxes of Earth.

Khamphian Vang (costume designer)

Khamphian (she/her/nws) is a Twin Cities-based artist and freelance costume designer. At the heart of her work is storytelling through the use of color, shape, texture, patterns, and symbolism. She has collaborated with many theater companies in the Twin Cities area including Full Circle Theater Co., Jungle Theater, Walking Shadow Theatre Co, Artistry, Minnesota Opera, New Native Theatre, and Lyric Arts. She is happy to be back at Theater Mu to design for Stop Kiss, a timeless and compelling story of human connection, love, and courage to fully embrace oneself, despite the harsh realities of the world we all live in.

Abbee Warmboe (properties designer)

Abbee (she/her) is a freelance props designer based in Minneapolis who has worked on over 250 productions with 40 different companies. Some of her favorite Mu productions to work on have been Brothers Paranormal (w/ Penumbra), Two Mile Hollow, and You For Me For You. Other recent collaborations have been with the Walker, Guthrie Theater, History Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, the Hive Collaborative, Theater Latté Da, and Penumbra. When not making props for theatrical productions, she can be found making small sets and props for her 4 lb. dog, LilyBee. Abbee is a 2020/21 McKnight theater artist fellow at the Playwrights’ Center.

Theater Mu

Theater Mu (pronounced MOO) is the largest Asian American theater company in the Midwest and has received national attention for its artistic excellence and community engagement. Founded in 1992, Mu sits at the intersection of arts, equity, and justice, and it tells stories from the heart of the Asian American experience. Theater Mu’s continuing goal to celebrate and empower the Asian American community through theater is achieved through mainstage productions, emerging artist support, and educational outreach programs.Theater Mu is a member of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists as well as a member of the Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition, proudly standing alongside New Native Theatre, Pangea World Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Teatro Del Pueblo, New Arab American Theater Works, and Ikidowin. | theatermu.org

Fran de Leon (artistic director)

Fran (she/her) joined Theater Mu as artistic director in spring 2025. Fran began producing at 19, and her many experiences include touring her one-person show, Faces of America, to over 500 venues. She has also served as co-artistic director of Will & Company, director of new talent for Playfair, an ensemble member of Critical Mass Performance Group, and as adjunct faculty at the University of Southern California’s School for Dramatic Arts. Fran is a 2025 Drama League directing fellow and a finalist for the Barb Whitman Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. Commissions include work for Segerstrom Center’s Arts Teach, TreePeople, Twelfth Night Rep, and Center Theatre Group. TV credits include recurring roles on For All Mankind and For the People, as well as guest stars on Criminal Minds, Speechless, and the Michelle Yeoh-led Netflix series The Brothers Sun.

Anh Thu T. Pham (managing director)

Anh Thu (she/her) joined the Mu staff as managing director in July 2020. A child of refugees from Viet Nam, Anh Thu was brought up as part of the Minnesota Vietnamese American Buddhist community. She has more than two decades of experience in accounting and as a community organizer, anti-war activist, and speaker on Asian American Pacific Islander solidarity and movement building. She has worked as a cultural consultant for the Guthrie Theater’s production of Vietgone (2022), Theater Mu and Stages Theatre Company’s collaboration A Different Pond (2022), and as a dialect coach for Ten Thousand Things’ production of Mlima’s Tale (2023). She is a board member of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and CAATA. Anh Thu manages the company’s financial and administrative operations and co-leads the company alongside artistic director Fran de Leon.

Thank You

Because of you, we are able to provide Pay As You Are ticketing, paid mentorships, and more. Thank you for supporting Mu! View the complete list of our donors by scanning the QR code or by visiting theatermu.org/donors.

SEASON 2024/25 SPONSORS

MU CHAMPIONS CIRCLE

SEA TURTLE ($1,000-$2,499)

Cynthia & Larry Lee, Eleanor Savage, Gail & Richard Bohr, Jacey Choy & Richard Brown, John & Sue Stillman, Kris Burhardt & April L. Spas, Nonoko Sato & Ted Johnson, Rachel Brown, Rich & Keely Remedios, Ruby Pediangco & Matt Shumway, Ruthie Johnson, Stephan Kieu & Julie Timm, and Team Her

STOP KISS digital playbill

CAST