←Recommendations of OPEN

I had the pleasure of seeing a videotaped production of Open as part of the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe. A richly layered piece about belief in love and magic and the promises we make, both to others and ourselves. Fast-paced while simultaneously digging deep. Great opportunity for both the actor and the sound & lighting designers.

A beautiful, moving act of love that beats from the broken heart of grief in the most powerful way. Excellent.

Brilliantly imaginative! Crystal has written a piece that blends theatrical magic and illusion into a powerful tale of love and loss. The play presents a young woman who so thoroughly believes in magic that she uses the fantasy of it to cope with the realities of life. Written with deep humanity, the piece explores how we often deceive ourselves with emotional slights-of-hand. This is a serious piece, but not heavy. Crystal imbues it with her trademark energy, whimsy, and vibrant sense of play. Actor and director alike will have great fun exploring this wonderfully moving story.

Heartbreaking, thrilling, romantic. Conjures emotion effortlessly. “Open” is a one-person theatrical magic act exploring love and grief that *must* be read or seen.

A gorgeous play that grapples with unimaginable tragedy and the pain of loss, and uses its theatrical conceit (a magic show with no magic! it works!) to illuminate the liminal qualities of grief that allow us transcend it. A real exciting possibility for a great actor/director combo.

Anyone who has loved or anyone who has lost someone can relate to the Magician.
A soulful play on loss and opening up to pain.
A transformative, transcendent theatre experience.

How I wish I had seen this live! And I will for sure rush out if I am ever given the opportunity. A beautiful play that puts the audience in the story in a such a compelling way. And what a love story! This would be a fantastic challenge for an actor, a director, and all designers involved. So creative, and so much possibility. I highly recommend!

Gut-wrenching and tender, OPEN masterfully uses a magician’s tricks to symbolically tell a story of love and vulnerability. Each trick in the magician’s repertoire signifies an important moment in her life and relationship, carrying us through a delicate story of what it means to open yourself up to others and - perhaps more perilously - to be honest with ourselves. Crystal has written an arresting play that gives a lot of room for the creative team to dive into how they tell this important story which reminds audiences of the beauty, vulnerability, and magic of everyday life.

Open is a stirring, exciting, breathtaking and deeply moving piece of theater. The play is brilliantly written, Crystal at her finest, we're clearly watching a master writer at work, not only technically perfect but with her heart left on every word. I've seen a lot of plays about magic, that use the metaphor of storytelling and theater as magic, but i don't think I've ever seen it as expertly or successfully executed than in this play. Read and produce this play as far as the eye can see!

I believe in the theatre as the seeing place, from the Ancient Greeks marching forward in time straight up to this play which takes our human capacity for belief and stretches it into real (Platonic) experience - the magic in this play - it doesn't get any more real than this! Kudos to Skillman for providing us all with the ability to see together: the magic of the theatre.