Crystal Skillman

Award-winning dramatist. Recent: OPEN Off-Bway at WP Theatre July 8th-27th 2025. THE ROCKET MEN (2025-2026 NNPN Rolling World Premiere), RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD (London: 2022). Awards: Venturous, Mid-Atlantic Arts Grant, Kilroys, NY Innovative Theatre Award, Earth Matters on Stage Prize, Bway World Winner, MUT Prize, EST/Sloan, Offie Nomination, O'Neill, BAPF, McKnight Finalist.

Award-winning dramatist. Recent: OPEN Off-Bway at WP Theatre July 8th-27th 2025. THE ROCKET MEN (2025-2026 NNPN Rolling World Premiere), RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD (London: 2022). Awards: Venturous, Mid-Atlantic Arts Grant, Kilroys, NY Innovative Theatre Award, Earth Matters on Stage Prize, Bway World Winner, MUT Prize, EST/Sloan, Offie Nomination, O'Neill, BAPF, McKnight Finalist.

Scripts

THE ROCKET MEN

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

Six women step into the roles of the former Nazis who sent us to the moon to share with us a story about the team that formed the backbone of NASA in the most unlikely of places...North Alabama. A startling new play about the intersection of scientific exploration and moral responsibility, “The Rocket Men” asks what it means “to be an American”.

Six women step into the roles of the former Nazis who sent us to the moon to share with us a story about the team that formed the backbone of NASA in the most unlikely of places...North Alabama. A startling new play about the intersection of scientific exploration and moral responsibility, “The Rocket Men” asks what it means “to be an American”.

TRAGEDY: A COMEDY

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

It’s the annual tragedy-writing festival in ancient Athens, and all your favorites are here: Sophocles is premiering Oedipus Rex, Euripides is premiering Medea, and Euphorion, the son of Aeschylus…is premiering a fraud. His play was secretly written by an enslaved woman, Harmonia. Her attempts to get her production done in the face of blasphemy accusations, threatened execution, an advancing army, a foul-mouthed...

It’s the annual tragedy-writing festival in ancient Athens, and all your favorites are here: Sophocles is premiering Oedipus Rex, Euripides is premiering Medea, and Euphorion, the son of Aeschylus…is premiering a fraud. His play was secretly written by an enslaved woman, Harmonia. Her attempts to get her production done in the face of blasphemy accusations, threatened execution, an advancing army, a foul-mouthed chorus, the usual backstage backstabbing, is nothing short of epic.

OPEN

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

AWARD WINNING NYTimes Critics' Pick. Recently published with Dramatists Play Service, OPEN is a magic show without magic. A woman called The Magician seems to pantomime a myriad of tricks, but her act reveals she is attempting the impossible—to save the life of her lover, Jenny.  Impossible as it may seem, this Magician’s magic act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate. 

AWARD WINNING NYTimes Critics' Pick. Recently published with Dramatists Play Service, OPEN is a magic show without magic. A woman called The Magician seems to pantomime a myriad of tricks, but her act reveals she is attempting the impossible—to save the life of her lover, Jenny.  Impossible as it may seem, this Magician’s magic act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate. 

RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

Two Seattle teenagers embark on an impulsive motorcycle journey to join a group of oil protesters on the East Coast. But as they follow a major pipeline across the country, what began as two young activists' longing to belong to something greater than themselves gives way to Rain and Zoe discovering that the true danger in this world might just be growing up. Available for License on request.

Two Seattle teenagers embark on an impulsive motorcycle journey to join a group of oil protesters on the East Coast. But as they follow a major pipeline across the country, what began as two young activists' longing to belong to something greater than themselves gives way to Rain and Zoe discovering that the true danger in this world might just be growing up. Available for License on request.

KING KIRBY

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

NOW A RIVETING AUDIO DRAMA with BROADWAY PODCAST NETWORK. NYTimes Critics Pick. A true life story about Jack Kirby, the man who co-created of the Marvel universe, King Kirby is an epic comic book story of the most famous cartoonist you never heard of. A real-life "Adventures of Kavalier & Klay", King Kirby asks what happens when an artist doesn't own his own legacy? Can he ever get it back?

NOW A RIVETING AUDIO DRAMA with BROADWAY PODCAST NETWORK. NYTimes Critics Pick. A true life story about Jack Kirby, the man who co-created of the Marvel universe, King Kirby is an epic comic book story of the most famous cartoonist you never heard of. A real-life "Adventures of Kavalier & Klay", King Kirby asks what happens when an artist doesn't own his own legacy? Can he ever get it back?

PARALLEL LIL

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

In “Parallel Lil”, sixteen-year-old Lil has problems: Her relationship with Dad is challenged by the mysterious disappearance of her mother, her bestie relates everything to a comic book, and the hot kid at school doesn’t know she exists. But when Lil’s STEM Science Fair project opens a door to a parallel universe ... filled with vegan vampires, techno tap-offs, and enough palace intrigue for a thousand kingdoms...

In “Parallel Lil”, sixteen-year-old Lil has problems: Her relationship with Dad is challenged by the mysterious disappearance of her mother, her bestie relates everything to a comic book, and the hot kid at school doesn’t know she exists. But when Lil’s STEM Science Fair project opens a door to a parallel universe ... filled with vegan vampires, techno tap-offs, and enough palace intrigue for a thousand kingdoms, Lil learns there’s more to life than meets the eye. In the spirit of her popular YA play “Geek!”, Crystal Skillman’s Parallel Lil features a world drawn from a comic book she is currently working on with Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey. “Parallel Lil” is a multiversal nerd-tastic kung fu romp filled with monsters, music, and mayhem.

TERRA AOUN

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

An outsider stumbles into a foreign land in search of a perfect photograph, but ambition draws her dangerously deep into the lives of her subjects when she participates in a ritual that exposes her own desires. Developed in the Soho Rep Writers Director Lab.

An outsider stumbles into a foreign land in search of a perfect photograph, but ambition draws her dangerously deep into the lives of her subjects when she participates in a ritual that exposes her own desires. Developed in the Soho Rep Writers Director Lab.

PULP VÉRITÉ

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

Playwrights Center March 3rd 2021. Joy is an active member of the filmmaking collective Pulp Vérité when she is captured and held overseas for years until she escapes to the United States for the impossible: to bring her sister who is still a captive with ISIS home. "Pulp Vérité owns the naiveté of these young American filmmakers; with all we are currently politically facing, Pulp Vérité is a race against time."

Playwrights Center March 3rd 2021. Joy is an active member of the filmmaking collective Pulp Vérité when she is captured and held overseas for years until she escapes to the United States for the impossible: to bring her sister who is still a captive with ISIS home. "Pulp Vérité owns the naiveté of these young American filmmakers; with all we are currently politically facing, Pulp Vérité is a race against time."

THE SLEEPING WORLD

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

NEW. When an unfinished play by the late Peter Abbey is discovered, his four closest friends - all fellow playwrights - meet in their old theatrical home to finish it. The content of the play, however, complicates matters, as they discover that the play is about them, their friendships, and what was lost eight, long years ago.

NEW. When an unfinished play by the late Peter Abbey is discovered, his four closest friends - all fellow playwrights - meet in their old theatrical home to finish it. The content of the play, however, complicates matters, as they discover that the play is about them, their friendships, and what was lost eight, long years ago.

ANOTHER KIND OF LOVE

by Crystal Skillman

Synopsis

In Another Kind of Love, A punk rock star comes back home to her former bandmates and sisters after 15 years in Seattle, for a one night gathering to honor their mother a legend in the rock world, seeking a relationship with her fifteen year old rock-star-to be niece... at the price of destroying the only family she’s got left. "A female-driven punk-rock masterpiece"! -Chloe Riley, Chicago Reader

In Another Kind of Love, A punk rock star comes back home to her former bandmates and sisters after 15 years in Seattle, for a one night gathering to honor their mother a legend in the rock world, seeking a relationship with her fifteen year old rock-star-to be niece... at the price of destroying the only family she’s got left. "A female-driven punk-rock masterpiece"! -Chloe Riley, Chicago Reader