THEATER
CONJURING
AC T
Chelsea DuVall gets magical in Stage Left’s new production Open.
New Stage Left streaming production Open uses sleight of hand as a metaphor for escaping reality BY E.J. IANNELLI 22 INLANDER OCTOBER 21, 2021
B
efore the curtain rises on Open, a befitting air of mystery hangs over the production. The synopsis tells us that Crystal Skillman’s one-woman play features a narrator known only as The Magician attempting to use the power of illusion to save the life of her unseen partner. But any specifics beyond that are generally left unsaid. “The piece is very abstract, poetic. It’s about a woman’s struggle with her inner mind. She has a tendency to escape reality by creating magic shows in her head as she’s emotionally trying to come to terms with the problem at hand,” says Dawn Taylor Reinhardt, who’s directing a new production of Skillman’s play for Stage Left. “I don’t want to go into too many details about what her journey is. Because if I do that, what’s the point in telling the story?”
YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
That lack of specificity is also integral to the story itself. “Magic is when what we imagine can become real,” proclaims Open’s narrator in a key line of dialogue. And as if to underscore that point, the show deliberately segues between the real and the imaginary in a nonlinear way. Even the sleights of hand are in question. “There’s nothing real on this stage at all,” Reinhardt says. “The magic tricks are all pantomimes. Every single prop is done through imagination. There’s the idea of bringing flowers from a hat, and even though you don’t really see anything, they’re there, right? So we’re asking the audience to come and join in the game, to use their own imagination. We’re asking them to play along.” ...continued on page 24