By Mary Damiano

	Stuart Meltzer and Michael McKeever share a happy moment at last year’s Carbonell Awards Photo: Mary Damiano

It’s not every actor who has his director run lines with him. Then again, it’s not every actor who’s in a three-year relationship with his director.

“They said we’d break up before the play opened,” says McKeever, who is starring in the play, which his boyfriend is directing.  “It never got close to that.” 

McKeever is an award-winning playwright who also acts and designs sets.  Meltzer is a director and teacher and the New World School of the Arts. Although McKeever has designed sets for Meltzer’s past productions, Kiss of the Spider Woman marks the first time the two have worked together as director and actor.

Three years ago, Meltzer was living in New York but came to Miami to teach for a semester.  He was on a date with a lawyer at Georgie’s Alibi in Wilton Manors, and things weren’t going well.  He was on his way to the restroom when he reassessed the date and himself.

“I said to myself, ‘I am better than this.  I am boyfriend material,’” says Meltzer. 

He suddenly saw a man he recognized but couldn’t place and gravitated toward him. As they watched a video of No Doubt’s “It’s My Life”, Meltzer realized that it was McKeever, and that the two men had met a decade before when they had participated in a play reading group together. 

“I liked his smile,” Meltzer says.

“The first thing he said to me was, ‘I like how your smile touches your eyes,’” McKeever remembers.

	Stuart Meltzer and Michael McKeever at last year’s Carbonell Awards: the real life partners are working together for the first time on Kiss of the Spider Woman, which opens January 6 at the Public Theatre Photo: Mary Damiano

The two have been together ever since.  Meltzer made the decision to stay in Florida and after four months, Meltzer moved into McKeever’s Davie home. 

“There was none of the agita that comes with the beginning of a relationship,” McKeever says.  “There was still the excitement of knowing someone new but at the same time, there was a comfort level from that first night.”

“And we laughed a lot,” Meltzer says.  “We still do.”

Kiss of the Spider Woman is their first real collaboration, and McKeever and Meltzer approached the Public Theatre with the idea of doing the show together.  They had each had success at the theatre—McKeever for his Carbonell nominated role in The Normal Heart and Meltzer for his direction of Barefoot Boy with Shoes On—and the management of the company told them if there was ever a project they’d like to do together, let them know.  They came up with Kiss of the Spider Woman, based on a novel by Manuel Puig about Luis Molina, a gay window dresser, and Valentin Arregui, a straight revolutionary, who share a cell in an Argentine prison.  The two men become close, regaling each other with personal stories and plots of movies.  The 1985 film version garnered four Oscar nominations, with William Hurt winning Best Actor for his portrayal of Luis Molina.  The 1993 Broadway musical version stared Chita Rivera as the Spider Woman.

Kiss of the Spider Woman has always been a dream project for McKeever.

“I’ve been wanting to do this play for years,” he says.  “It’s got enormous humanity.”

In addition to acting in Kiss of the Spider Woman, McKeever also designed the sets and the poster for the show.  Meltzer brought in Travis Neff, ho had never worked at the Public Theatre, to do the lighting design.

McKeever’s co-star in Kiss of the Spider Woman is David Perez-Ribada, whom Meltzer directed in Barefoot Boy with Shoes On.  Perez-Ribada has had a string of breakout performances this past year, including roles in The Pillowman at GableStage and Red Light Winter at the Mosaic Theatre. 

“We have to go places in this play that aren’t really comfortable to go, physically or emotionally, and he’s always the first to say let’s do it,” says McKeever.

Despite what people told them about the dangers of working together, McKeever and Meltzer say they did not have a hard time, even though as director and actor, there might be an imbalance of power.

“There’s no time to let egos get in the way,” says McKeever.  “If the director wants you to try something, you try it.” 

“We understand each other’s sensibilities,” says Meltzer.  “We feed off each other’s creativity.”

	Michael McKeever and David Perez-Ribada play political prisoners in Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Public Theatre

They’re used to helping each other in their work, whether its McKeever bringing Meltzer’s directorial vision to the next level with a set design, or Meltzer helping McKeever work through problems when he’s writing a play.

The two have also not had a problem integrating work with their home life.  While they discuss the production and what still needs to be done before opening, Meltzer prefers to leave the real work behind in the rehearsal hall. 

The week after Kiss of the Spider Woman opens, McKeever will begin rehearsals for The Sunshine Boys with Bruce Adler and Avi Hoffman at the New Vista Theatre Company in Boynton Beach, and Meltzer will begin rehearsals for Angels in America, which he’s directing at New World School of the Arts.  This year will also bring a trip to Europe, where coincidentally, three of McKeever’s plays will be enjoying productions.

And it seems that the comfort McKeever and Meltzer experienced from the beginning in their personal relationship has carried over into their Kiss of the Spider Woman collaboration.

“I’ve worked as hard on this as any project I’ve ever worked on, but at the same time, there’s been no agita, there’s been no aggravation, everyone pitched in,” McKeever says.  “It’s great.”