To begin I would just like to mention that I have never really been exposed to the world of theatre before—or had the interest to be exposed. I mean after all, I’ve seen plays on TV and I figured, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen em‘ all, right? Wrong.

Upon arriving to the theatre on H Street in Washington, D.C. my idea of what the setup of the play would be like was completely shattered. Instead of some gigantic auditorium with a stage front and center, was a smaller more intimate setting with seating on both sides of the stage. As the play started and I started to get deeper into the plot of Stop Kiss, I began to feel that I was in the middle of the action, which is something I’ve never experienced before. I felt that at any moment the characters would ask for my advice or just my opinion in general on the situations that they were facing within the plot. But of course they didn’t.

What I liked most about Stop Kiss is that although it seemed as if everything was normal, there was always a slight undertone of mystery that forced you to ask,  “What’s really going on here?” There were so many other elements that I liked about this particular play which included the setting (The Big Apple baby!), the humor, the ability to touch on a serious subject that many of us could relate to, and the ability to be raw and up front.  I actually really appreciated that and I believe that many people in my generation would feel the same way. The last thing I wanted to see was something that was candy coated. Stop Kiss managed to be extremely bold and yet extremely mysterious with of course everything unfolding in the end. I would say that at certain points in the beginning I became confused with the foreshadowing, but as the foreshadowing continued to happen, I realized what was going on.  I can honestly say that I have a newfound appreciation and interest in the theater arts, all thanks to the No Rules team, and will be attending more plays in the near future.

Ricardo Gidarisingh is a senior Marketing major at Howard University, a native of Miami, Florida as well as the Founder and Creative Director of LavishExposure.com. He decided to work with the No Rules Theatre Company through a project in his Social Media class despite not having experienced the world of theatre before and saw this as a good opportunity to be exposed to this art form as well as contribute his ideas about social media. Accompany him in this journey as he shares his insight and experiences with the No Rules Theatre Company.