Wendy Lippe and Kenny Kelleher Swoon for Psych Drama Company's Immersive 'Stage Kiss'

EDGE: "Stage Kiss" is about a "showmance" – a romance that develops between actors. In real life the two main characters are being played by the two of you, Wendy and Kenny. So how is the show's plot resonating or departing from your own experience as actors bringing the production to life?

Kenny Kelleher: In terms of a "showmance," the main difference here is that the characters of "He" and "She" have a 20-year history in their relationship; and Wendy and I didn't know each other at all before starting work on this show. I think we have somewhat of an easier time because we're meeting with a totally clean slate. Although, just as our two characters had an intense time 20 years ago at the beginning of their relationship, Wendy and I are working together so closely... physically and emotionally... that the beginning of our relationship has also been intense. As an actor, I'm trying to make the boldest, most exciting choices so I can kind of echo a long, full relationship with Wendy onstage.

Wendy Lippe: Kenny just answered that question in a way that expresses how I feel better than I could. And I would add that our comfort with each other, both emotionally and physically, is unusual for two people who have met for the first time in a theatrical production. It's just there.

EDGE: Wendy, as a clinical psychologist, actress, and artistic director, can you say something about the psychology of the "showmance?"

Wendy Lippe: There is a line in the play when "She" asks "He," "Were you ever unambivalent – about anything?" Thankfully, the text accurately reflects that it is only possible to be unambivalent (about anything) for a period of time. Ambivalence is part of life and all lasting human relationships. And, in romantic relationships, after the honeymoon phase, the relationship either breaks with the transition to the "real" or it survives, and even thrives, with the integration of the reality of who the other person is, as opposed to the fantasy of who the other person is. With the "showmances" I have myself experienced, and those of others I have witnessed, they come to embody "ambivalence on steroids." They have the fantasies and projections inherent in the honeymoon phase of a romantic relationship augmented by the fictional world of the play, and the exciting process of discovery in rehearsal and performance; all of this leads to very positive and intense emotional and physical feelings. And thus, with the transition to the "real," the "showmance" is challenged by the typical loss of the fantasy of who the other person is, as in any romantic relationship, but it also has to survive the loss of the fictional and exciting world of the play in rehearsal and performance. That's a lot to grieve! So, the positive and negative aspects of ambivalence are doubled, or even multiplicative, with "showmances." And, of course, some "showmances" survive this more complicated and layered transition to the "real" and others don't.

EDGE: Kenny, this is your first major theatrical role, if I understand correctly. What are you discovering about the process of rehearsal and production of a play on this scale?

Kenny Kelleher: This is the first time I've played a romantic lead guy in a story like this, yes. When I got the part, I was immediately excited as fuck. There was maybe a second of, "I hope people believe me in this part," but I quickly moved past that. I'm getting to express so much of myself that I don't on a daily basis... and maybe didn't even realize lives so close to the surface all the time. Kenny's a single dude, but I get to flirt and get teased and experience all kinds of really high emotions in this story, and I'm having the best time with it. Rani O'Brien, our director, is so great at making space that I can just try stuff and just let myself all the way out. And Wendy and I are fully there with each other in rehearsal and having back and forth that is so damn fun. I also think that my total lack of hangups about baring so much onstage has to do with putting in a shit ton of work on myself, and knowing myself better than I ever have or planned on. It's so exciting for me onstage and, most importantly, in my life.

EDGE: What's next on the horizon for The Psych Drama Company?

Wendy Lippe: How does Noel Coward's "Private Lives" sound for exploring relational ambivalence and the transition to the "real" with levity and playfulness?

And a collaboration with a new company, PsyArc; we are currently working on an adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that I wrote, using immersive audiovisual and AI technologies.

Psych Drama Company's immersive production of "Stage Kiss" plays Feb. 13 - 23 at the Plaza Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. For tickets and more information, follow this link.