CRYSTAL SKILLMAN
OPEN at DRAMA BOOKSHOP - JUNE 25th, 7:30-8:30 PM
Please join us for the first official Broadway Licensing/Dramatists Play Service book signing of my play OPEN featuring Megan Hill from our debut production in New York, as well as Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Lily Ali-Oshatz from the play’s tour in Europe,
and director Jessi D. Hill.
OPEN
Recently OPEN became tour ready and was selected for APAP's Up Next series. More below! In 2022, the play finished a tour in Italy featuring Lily Ali-Oshatz as The Magician with Kairos Italy Theater’s Onstage! Festival winning a rave in Italy Broadway World. International tour co-produced with The Tank and The Flying Carpet Theatre Company.
ABOUT
​
A queer love story told by an amateur magician. Her energetic act attempts the impossible — to rescue her girlfriend.
​
OPEN is a magic act that reveals itself to be a resurrection. A woman called the Magician presents a myriad of tricks for our entertainment, yet her performance seems to be attempting the impossible—to save the life of her partner, Jenny. But is our faith in her illusions enough to rewrite the past?
​
The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and, as impossible as it may seem, this Magician’s act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.
​
After the play's debut with Megan Hill, directed by Jessi D.Hill, the play is currently being programed across the U.S. OPEN is a play that allows its audience to revel in the joy of queer love, yet grieve and process the trauma of fighting against intolerance in this timely, cathartic story. It is a story of hope.
And now for the first time OPEN has it's first tour overseas with actress Lily Ali-Oshatz directed by Jessi D.Hill!
"Kristen, the narrator and sole character of
Crystal Skillman’s new play “Open,”
at the Tank,
executes magic tricks
because she is the one who needs to believe. The miracle this lovely show pulls out is that by the end, she does — and so do we."
-- NYTimes Critics Pick
"Crystal Skillman's script
Provides a perfect playground"
​—MinnesotaPlaylist.com
“Open reminds us that
Making an audience believe
is a trick writers & actors can master, too.”
-New York Times
“Critic’s pick! …Kristen, the narrator and sole character of [OPEN], executes magic tricks because she is the one who needs to believe. The miracle this lovely show pulls out is that by the end, she does—and so do we.”
—NY Times
“This play is music. It is that song you love. You know that song when every note of it is perfect, every instrument chosen is the correct choice, and the voice of the singer is the kind that lifts you to another realm. It is a poem, a love letter to us, crafted by an artist. …[Crystal Skillman] has the words for us when we do not, and she is indeed a skilled craftsman, a healer. …She mixes the world of magic with the world of the living, all with precision and grace.”
—FrontRowCenter.com
"Instead of realism, audiences are given fantasy through which reality can be seen more clearly. …OPEN is a lovely one-woman show about the intimate metaphors magic provides us for interpreting our loves, our lives, and ourselves.”
—MinnesotaPlaylist.com
UPCOMING
PRODUCTIONS
11/14/2022 - 4 PM OPEN @ The Tank. #HealMeToo event - FREE!
​
11/18/2022-11/24 - OPEN Tours ITALY!
​
2/3/23-2/26/2023 - @ Main Stage West (DPS Production)
MEDIA CREDITS
Open Tour Photos by: Hunter Canning
Open Original Production Photos by: Maria Baranova
Open Logo by: Armchair Studio
Video by: Adventure We Can (Crystal Arnette)