About the Play:

Kissing Christine has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues.

Missing / Kissing are two one-act comedies by John Patrick Shanley. These two one-acts depict lovelorn New Yorkers aching to surrender self-pity for affection. In Missing Marisa, two men wrangle over the memory of a woman they've loved and lost; in Kissing Christine, two bruised souls connect on a blind date. The plays may be presented separately or as a double bill under the collective title Missing / Kissing to create a full evening of entertainment.

In Missing Marisa Terry and Eli are friends with a woman in common: Marisa. She was Eli's wife. Then she ran off with Terry. Now she has abandoned Terry as well. Terry comes to Eli's apartment looking for Marisa. Did she return to Eli? Eli is not forthcoming. The two men circle each other, combative and vulnerable. Eli wants friendship. Terry just wants Marisa back. Neither man can get what he wants. The phone rings. Is it Marisa? Eli won't pick it up. Terry grabs the receiver and says hello. But the caller hangs up. Eli is baking a chicken. Terry wants to know who's coming to dinner. Eli will not say. Finally, Terry, excluded from Eli and Marisa's life, begs for at least a taste of chicken. Eli gives Terry one tiny taste. This is Terry's portion in life. He is the eternal wanderer, the outcast. He thanks Eli for the little he is allowed and prepares to move on. (Cast: 2 male)

In Kissing Christine Larry and Christine meet at a Thai restaurant for dinner. It's a first date, and they know nothing about each other. In the course of conversation, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary couple. Christine is a reconfigured person. A couple of years before she fell through an open trapdoor in a store and landed on her head. As a result of this accident, her face had to be reconstructed. So she looks different. Pretty, but a different pretty. Even more significantly, she received a severe concussion which, among other things, changed her personality. She has become a much nicer person. But she has fallen out of life a little bit. Larry listens to this in astonishment. But he has revelations of his own. He is married and has two children. His wife and he are having terrible problems. Out of loneliness and frustration he has gone on a date. Two people who, through different kinds of trauma, have disconnected from the flow of life. In this play, they help each other by deeply talking to each other. And finally, they reconnect with something vital through a kiss. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male)

Missing Marisa and Kissing Christine premiered in 1996 at Actors Theater of Louisville as a double bill under the collective title Strange Encounters, later renamed Missing / Kissing for the off-Broadway premiere at Primary Stages in New York City. Since then the play has been produced at professional theatres across the US and has been mounted by college theatres.

What people say:

"The king of quirks, John Patrick Shanley invents characters who are one beat off from the rest of the world. But his mannered, metaphorical, cutely self-conscious dialogue can suggest needy souls whose lives, to quote one character, "have just stopped working."." — Chicago Reader

"…Shanley has an unusual talent for situations…and a sure gift for a kind of inner dialogue in which people talk their hearts as well as their minds…." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. Shanley has written some two dozen off-Broadway plays since the 1970s, but he is best known for Doubt, which won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award. He has also written extensively for TV and film, and his credits include the teleplay for Live from Baghdad and screenplays for Five Corners and Moonstruck, for which he won an Academy Award for original screenplay.