Kiss of the Spider Woman

Not the film. Not the musical. Actors Theatre presents the original stage adaption of Manuel Puig’s graceful, intensely compelling novel about love and victimization. Two starkly opposite men share an Argentine prison cell: Molina, a flamboyantly gay window dresser jailed for “gross indecencies”; and Valenin, an articulate, fiercely dogmatic revolutionary imprisoned for his political beliefs. Molina passes the time indulging in escapist fantasies, sharing his obsession with the fantasy and romance of movies. Their relationship evolves as both men, initially cautious, are gradually transformed by Molina’s tales of the silver screen. In a time when civil liberties have been sacrificed in the name of political expediency and torture is an accepted form of intelligence-gathering, Kiss of the Spider Woman has never been more relevant.