Class Notes: Crystal Skillman (Open)

Summary

BroadwayRadio Podcast Summary
Episode: Class Notes: Crystal Skillman (Open)
Host: Lauren Clash Schneider
Release Date: July 16, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of BroadwayRadio, host Lauren Clash Schneider welcomes Crystal Skillman, the acclaimed playwright of Open at the WP Theater. The conversation delves deep into the genesis, development, and impact of Open, alongside Crystal's broader artistic endeavors and her passion for theater and graphic novels.

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Exploring Open: A Queer Love Story with Magical Realism

Lauren begins by introducing Open as a compelling queer love story centered around an amateur magician whose act becomes a metaphor for fighting intolerance and hate. She describes the play as follows:

“A queer love story told by an amateur magician. Her act attempts the impossible to rescue her girlfriend. The clock is ticking. The show must go on...”
— Lauren Clash Schneider [00:16]

Crystal Skillman provides a nostalgic overview of how Open evolved from her earlier works and experiences:

“I had written a play called Wild... In the lobby of that show off of Christopher Street, I heard a couple say, oh, it's so great that Crystal wrote Peter and Bobby as if they are a natural couple. And I remember... that was kind of in the back of my head.”
— Crystal Skillman [00:46]

She recounts the critical moment of inspiration for Open, combining her passion for female-led magic and her collaboration with director Megan Hill:

“One of the most exciting things about the piece was the metaphor of love being a magic show and the fact that she was pantomiming these tricks that you don't see, but the audience is being taught how to see.”
— Crystal Skillman [02:30]

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Development and Evolution of Open

Lauren highlights a New York Times review that lauds Open as a significant summer surprise and asks Crystal about the play's evolution over six years:

“What's different now than six years ago as you work on the piece?”
— Lauren Clash Schneider [04:30]

Crystal responds by contextualizing the play within the growing societal intolerance she observed, particularly around 2015, which influenced the thematic depth of Open:

“I realized where we were headed and going in a very frightened way... The magician told me the story of Kristen and Jenny, and I just kind of started to write down what the magician was saying.”
— Crystal Skillman [04:53]

She reflects on the unique creative process, describing how the character of the magician became a conduit for storytelling:

“I've never actually had that directed experience where a character within me, beyond me, was speaking to me...”
— Crystal Skillman [05:30]

Crystal emphasizes the universal appeal of Open, noting its ability to resonate with diverse audiences regardless of their personal journeys:

“Whether you are in your disillusionment or happiness or, you know, how you feel about America or relationships, this play meets you...”
— Crystal Skillman [04:30]

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Crystal Skillman's Multifaceted Artistic Journey

Lauren transitions the discussion to Crystal's versatility as a playwright and her involvement with graphic novels and comics:

“You're also described as a handy scribe of plays and comics, and no doubt you make many people jealous that way. How do you live in the world of theater and graphic novels and Marvel and WP theater?”
— Lauren Clash Schneider [06:36]

Crystal delves into her early experiences with the WP Theater's alumni lab, highlighting the importance of female-identifying creators in her work:

“We got selected... It allowed me to hear things I hadn't heard before from other people on the other side of the table making work. And because we were all female, that was the first time...”
— Crystal Skillman [07:00]

She connects her passion for comics to her personal life, sharing how her husband's work influenced her artistic direction:

“I started helping with the booth, and I started... the culture, the way people felt comfortable and the way you saw different geek circles find their tribe... it was a different way of talking and exploring identity that was also very open to me...”
— Crystal Skillman [08:10]

Crystal pays homage to her late husband, Joel Pfeiffer, acknowledging how his work in comics and screenwriting inspired her own storytelling techniques:

“I was a big fan of Watchmen and Mouse Mouse. And now I was learning as he was writing scripts... how scripts get written... Each panel is a moment.”
— Crystal Skillman [09:20]

She highlights her visual artistic background and how it complements her writing, resulting in what critics describe as "cinematic on stage":

“Having gone to Parsons School of Design... I was a photography major in the theater minor... my work is often called cinematic on stage with kind of nothing like in a theatrical way.”
— Crystal Skillman [09:50]

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Upcoming Projects and Future Endeavors

As the conversation nears its conclusion, Lauren expresses excitement for Crystal's future projects, particularly the upcoming world premiere of Rocket Men:

“I love that you live in that intersection, and I'm so looking forward to everything with Open this summer and what else you have following that in this world of fantasy graphic novel theater.”
— Lauren Clash Schneider [10:40]

Crystal shares details about her new play, Rocket Men, highlighting its unique casting and thematic relevance:

“It's called the Phoenix Theater... Open in September at Synchronicity in Atlanta. And then after that, in March, it'll be in Nebraska at Angels Theater.”
— Crystal Skillman [11:00]

She underscores the importance of theater as a medium for dialogue and understanding during complex times in America:

“It's a complex time in America, and I think the only way to get through it is to talk and have conversations and experience. Not unlike what Arthur Miller did in the Depression, traveling the country.”
— Crystal Skillman [11:36]

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Lauren thanking Crystal for her contributions and sharing updates on her forthcoming works:

“Thank you, Crystal.”
— Lauren Clash Schneider [11:56]

Crystal reciprocates the gratitude, leaving listeners with a sense of anticipation for her future projects and the continued impact of Open in the theater landscape.

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Key Takeaways:

• Development of Open: Crystal Skillman's Open intertwines queer love with magical realism, serving as a metaphor for combating societal intolerance. The play's evolution was influenced by the rise of intolerance in the mid-2010s and Crystal's unique creative process involving a magician character.

• Artistic Versatility: Beyond playwriting, Crystal is deeply involved in the world of graphic novels and comics, drawing inspiration from her late husband and her background in visual arts. Her work bridges the gap between theatrical storytelling and visual narratives.

• Future Projects: Crystal is set to premiere her new play, Rocket Men, featuring women in pivotal roles, across various theaters in Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Nebraska, emphasizing the role of theater in fostering dialogue and understanding.

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For those interested in contemporary theater that blends diverse storytelling elements with profound societal themes, Crystal Skillman's work, especially Open, is a must-explore narrative that resonates on multiple levels.

Transcript

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Hi, I'm Lauren Clash Schneider with Clash Notes for Broadway Radio. I'm here with Crystal Skillman, playwright of Open at the WP Theater. Welcome.

[Crystal Skillman]

It's great to be here.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Well, thanks for setting us up today with this queer love story told by an amateur magician. Her act attempts the impossible to. To rescue her girlfriend. The clock is ticking. The show must go on. And as impossible as it may seem, the magician's act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate. Well, Crystal, as I read that, it seems that Open could have been written just a few months ago, but of course, that's not the case. Tell us a little bit about its history.

[Crystal Skillman]

I had written a play called Wild as one of my plays, and it had the love and relationship, very complicated relationship of a couple going in the next step and commitment, and they were Peter and Bobby. And in the lobby of that show off of Christopher Street, I heard a couple say, oh, it's so great that Crystal wrote Peter and Bobby as if they are a natural couple. And I remember. And this was 2014, I remember being like, this is a problem. And it just kind of clocked it. And I just. That was kind of in the back of my head. And at the same time, I think that year I had the opportunity to do a short little piece at Ralstick, a place called Theater Jam. And I worked with William Jackson Harper, amazing actor, on a concept of saving your love. And it was very poetic. But I realized that at the end of that, everyone grabbed me in this packed 99C house and said, what is this? This is so amazing, so interesting.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

So.

[Crystal Skillman]

So I felt like I was on the road to what I wanted to do. And then I thought, it must be a female magician. I just thought that was incredibly important. And then around that time, I began working with Megan Hill. I had director Jesse V. Hill. Megan Hill and I worked together on a play called Cut, one of the first plays I wrote Downtown. It got this amazing Times review which kind of launched me. I've had a lot of little launches along the way, as we tend to do as artists. And it was about three reality TV show writers. And every day when I came in with pages, Megan would say to me, you are a warrior and a champion. And I remember being like, I think I'm going to work with Megan Hill the rest of my life. Not only is she one of the greatest performers and so gets my style and tone, in many ways is kind of an alternate me. I cannot act at all, by the way. And so you know, all those things were kind of brewing and when Jesse D. Hill and I started to work together. Jesse has worked with a lot of material, magicians. I also went to school with a magician and who consulted on it early on. And one of the most exciting things about the piece was the metaphor of love being a magic show and the fact that she was pantomiming these tricks that you don't see, but the audience is being taught how to see. The audience is being taught how to imagine. And as I kept developing the script, I was aware I was working on the script to be for audiences that are queer inclusive there, you know, in the fight, you know, there for their friends, um, growing and evolving. And also people a little farther away from that journey, maybe an aunt or uncle who doesn't really, you know, know how to talk about what their niece or nephew are going through. And. And so even though the piece is definitely, you know, set in New York City, it's a. It's a big city story. When it got licensed, I realized the power of it in America. It was just. Production was just done in Texas, for instance, and the conversations that come from being in those places. And so I'm really proud of the. Of what the play does for an audience. Wherever you are at, in your disillusionment or happiness or, you know, how you feel about America or relationships, this play meets you, and you can't help but fall in love with the amateur magician whose name is actually Kristen, but her alter ego is the magician. And her love for Jenny, it's an infectious thing that just. You just can't stop watching her. And you're just like, what is she going to do next as we go act to act?

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Well, the New York Times says this. In one of the summer's most welcome surprises, Crystal Skillman's wanderer's monologue returned six years after its premiere at the Tank Open as a love story. With an aching heart, let's welcome back this delicate slice of summertime sadness. And my question is, what's different now than six years ago as you work on the piece?

[Crystal Skillman]

The piece was very, very timely because in the second part of that development journey was. And I was actually working in Indiana at the time in a place called New Harmony Project on a play called Rain and Zoe Save the World. And that's when the signs of he who Shall Not Be Named started to pop up in a way that I had seen them because I had been kind of a little protected, I think, in my city bubble up until 2015. So around that time I realized where we were headed and going in a very frightened way. And this concept that I kept honing, I kept thinking, I must come back to this because this is going to be really powerful. That when I started to write the pages around that time, you know, had some work with it, but I hadn't really had the exact opening and, you know, just certain things. And I saw blank stage and I saw the magician, and, you know, the magician. This is where the story really started to come alive for me in writing it. The magician told me the story of Kristen and Jenny, and I just kind of started to write down what the magician was saying. And I am. I've written many plays. I'm always tapped in, into them. People are aware. I'm quite a rewriter. I live in fantasy. I live in layers of worlds. But I've never actually had that directed experience where a character within me, beyond me, was speaking to me, which is. You know, I've read a lot of August Wilson's work, and he's talked a lot about being that way. And some people say they hear voices. So that was a. That was very interesting. And I think it's also what kept the passion of working on the play, making sure as many people can see it as possible, because I. I'm aware of how special it is that it was kind of channeled from. From. From a good place that. That I want others to feel. Mm.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Well, you're also described as a handy scribe of plays and comics, and no doubt you make many people jealous that way. How do you live in the world of theater and graphic novels and Marvel and WP theater?

[Crystal Skillman]

Oh, wow. I love that. WP came early in my life a little bit because. And Jesse D. Hill, also the director. We were both part of the alumni lab at the time. Now we're alumni of it. And what that meant was that we got selected. So that was cool. But what they did that was really neat is that they said, okay, here's five female identifying writers. Here's five female identifying directors. And then. Which is which? There are other programs that. That did exist, kind of like that. But then they also said, then there's five female identifying producers. And so for two years, you kind of share work and collaborate and talk. And it allowed me to hear things I hadn't heard before from other people on the other side of the table making work. And because we were all female, that was the first time, I think, that it was really that clear room. Another good theater that here, great theater that's also involved with this show is called New George's, and they also have a lot of gatherings, and it's really kind of exciting to meet other female artists. It's just a. It's a really dynamic thing. And most of the artists that I are, my heroes are female artists. So that kind of bubble and the idea. And because I've always been writing female forward characters, they usually are grappling with escapism, fantasy in different ways. One of my big breakout plays is called Geek, and it's about cosplayers. That's kind of my family play, because that leads to comics. So I started in comics because my husband and I got together pretty early on. We. I was fresh out of art school, and he was making comics, and I started going around to comics, and I started helping with the booth, and I started. I just. The culture, the way people felt comfortable and the way you saw different geek circles find their tribe, it was a different way of talking and exploring identity that was also very open to me and open. And I was seeing that with people of all ages. I've seen, you know, Princess Leia is above every age. I also then turn the corner and I see anime that I don't know if someone's got scissors for a head and, like, you know, like, you know, saws on their, you know, arms, you know, like, oh, what's that? Anime? Or, you know. But it's like everyone was getting to say, hey, I'm wearing my fantasy out for you to see, and so you can connect with me on it and we can make something. And I thought, wow, how beautiful that this form incites this kind of passion. And then I also really fell in love with my husband's work, but at the same time, it matched. I was a big fan of Watchmen and Mouse Mouse. And so. But now I was learning as he was writing scripts, kind of how scripts get written, and I kept thinking, oh, wow, that's why. And he passed recently. His name is Joel Pfeiffert. But I was like, oh, that's why Jules Feifer wrote screenplays and he wrote comics and he wrote plays. I was like, they're beats. These are all beats. These are all different ways to really. Each panel is a moment, right? And I got so excited about that. And I'm such a visual person, having gone to Parsons School of Design. I. I was a photography major in the theater minor. So that was really exciting to me because my work is often called cinematic on stage with kind of nothing like in a theatrical way and nothing in quotes, because you when you come to see openness, the artistry of it is quite complex if you really break it down. But for you, it's. It's. It's really surprising, exploratory, and. Yeah, so that's kind of where they all come together, the being highly visual, a monkey see, monkey do a little bit with seeing Frederick comics and then wanting to do so. We got an opportunity, right, for some adventure time comics together. And that's when I think I really got the bug. And then I started. I started adapting my place in the comics as well.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Well, I love that you live in that intersection, and I'm so looking forward to everything with Open this summ and what else you have following that in this world of fantasy graphic novel theater. So I thank you.

[Crystal Skillman]

Thank you so much. Yeah. And the next thing is, it was announced that the Rocket Men, my new play, former in quotes, that sent us to the moon, who are played by women, is getting a rolling world premiere. So that'll kick off in September in Indianapolis.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Oh, congratulations, Crystal. And thanks for letting us know that. And what theater in Indianapolis?

[Crystal Skillman]

It's called the Phoenix Theater. And. And then about a month later, open in September at Synchronicity in Atlanta. And then after that, in March, it'll be in Nebraska at Angels Theater.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Wonderful. And good for the Midwest.

[Crystal Skillman]

Yes, I do. Really. It's a complex time in America, and I think the only way to get through it is to. To talk and have conversations and experience. Not unlike what Arthur Miller did in the Depression, traveling the country. Yes. Yes.

[Lauren Clash Schneider]

Well, thank you for that. I'm Lauren Klaus Schneider with Crystal Skillman, playwright of Open at the WP Theater. Thank you.