Here at Tympanic we go gaga for new works. Lucky for us, Chicago is filled to the brim with new plays. It's the perfect place to call "home". It's the Wrigley Field to our Cubs, the San Francisco to our 1849, Fortress of Solitude to our Superman, the Fountain of Youth to our Ponce de Leo, the cake to our fat kid, the…well you get the idea.
So in celebration of our brand-spanking new blog and our dedication to new work we bring you our very first interview in our Ripe for the Picking series, a collection of interviews about new work in Chicago, with up and coming playwright Crystal Skillman. Enjoy!
You're a New Yorker who has also had her fair share of work produced in Chicago. How would you compare the Chicago storefront scene to that of New York? Yes – I’m really enjoying going between these two awesome cities! When I was just out there in May to see my short play Kiss at The Side Project Theatre Company (as part of their recent Cut to the Quick Festival), it was the lovely Joy Meads who I think mentioned to me that Chicago is really like one big Brooklyn. As a happy Brooklynite (living in ye old Boreum Hill) that makes total sense to me. In Chicago, it seems each little section has got its own theatres, coffee place, great restaurants. It’s got a more urban, suburb feel that is really cool. We have that in Manhattan but sometimes it feels all squished together, which is fun but doesn’t feel as much that I’m going to a little pocket of the city to see something. Also, a lot of the indie theatres in NYC rent spaces, and while it’s clear that some theatres in Chicago do as well, it’s rare to see so many indie theatres in their own space! That storefront scene, as you mentioned is something more unique to Chicago. I’m a theatre lobby junkie, so that’s something I’ve really enjoyed. Two other differences are that in Chicago, larger theatres seem to openly share resources with indie theatres and vice versa which I think NYC theatre could really learn from; and there is some kick booty ensemble work happening out there. I’m happy to say I see that catching on in NYC, especially with smaller companies here, but it’s something we should embrace more
Do you notice a different audience reaction and general interest between the two cities? I wouldn’t say I noticed a different audience reaction, but I did wonder if indie theatre in Chicago got more tourists. In NYC, the larger theatres are mostly in Times Square. As you know, NYC tourists seem to mostly go to Broadway, and perhaps Off Broadway once and a while. In terms of Off Off Broadway, or indie theatre as most of us call it, it seems to be a bit undiscovered for them so I was curious about that Chicago wise. For general interest between Chi-town and the Big Apple, I’d say for sure there’s a hunger right now for political, more meaty work which for a playwright like me, who writes darkly humorous but thought provoking plays, is exciting. In general, it’s a very, very exciting time to be in theatre. I feel like the country is coming out of a real place of denial, and while it’s tough economically, people are more willing to hear truthful things, which is what artists strive to capture. When I used to speak about my play The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, which goes between medieval and current time exploring how the origin of sleep deprivation torture (which came out of the dark ages) is like what we’re doing today in our interrogations, it seemed hard for people to grasp. Now when I share the play with theatres, the connection I saw years ago is connecting with people today – there’s a real understanding – and less fear – about exploring that subject.
How, if at all, do you think the age of facebook and twitter has effected the means of the playwright? Has it become easier to get your work out there or do you feel like it's increased the competition? I think it’s great – love that it gives a voice to companies of all sizes equally. It’s totally easier to get the word out about your play, and it makes it fun. Most importantly, it puts faces (in the case of facebook literally J) to the names of those who work at theatres in contact
Ward and Andrews in Skillman's Nobody
with the faces of the artists. What could be better? We’re creating the work they will now or in the future be interested in and vice versa. Competition wise, I’m consistently still wowed by how many playwrights are out there (did no one warn us of this crazy career choice?) but it is also freakin’ awesome. I firmly believe in artists supporting each other. By championing plays, companies and productions that rock your world, you are doing so in your interest as well – paving the way for your own work.
How do you think the stuff you write now compares to some of your first pieces? How do you hope to see your work grow? The wonderful Morgan Jenness recently came to my play Birthday, produced in April by Rising Phoenix Rep(directed by Daniel Talbott, who is also the Artistic Director – your audience may him as the author of Slipping, directed by Adam Webster at Side Project last season). Morgan got really excited after seeing Birthday and said something like, “This is new terrain for Crystal. I want to see where this is going!” She’s right – my work has evolved a lot in the past few years and I’m really excited about where it’s heading. My plays have become more grounded, and “naturalistic” in their own way, while maintaining a unique voice. A lot of it has to do with having had the opportunity to write for specific companies and actors. Slowly I began to develop an understanding of how to break down a scene from the actors point of view and something really clicked for me – I had a real sense of what I wanted to say with each play and how to say it, while still maintaining the subtle, delicate truth of the world and its characters.
Do you have any funny quirks or superstitions you have to do before you sit down to write? Hmmmm. No superstitions but
Soule in Skillman's The Reaching
I do have some rituals – before I start a new play, I create a soundtrack for that play, a playlist that evolves as the play does. I listen to the soundtrack when I write that play. They’ve gotten pretty fun (with ditties from Wolf Parade or music from Fellini movies). Now I burn them to give out as gifts to the actors, director after a production.
What are you working on now? I just finished up rewrites on my play The Sleeping World, read at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in New York and at Side Project in Chicago this spring. I’ll hear the latest on Monday at MCC Theater, where I’m a member of their Playwrights Coalition – I’m very excited about how the play is evolving and how much deeper it’s becoming. I’m the bookwriter/lyricist of a musical about a boy who wants to play Annie called That’s Andy, and the creative team (Bobby Cronin, Kevin Carter) has gotten together to develop it this summer. In the fall, it looks like I’ll be returning to Chi-town to write a new short play for The New Colony (whose new cool musical Tupperware just opened!) which I’m super psyched about.
Where do your biggest inspirations come from? My biggest inspirations come from little discoveries or realizations. Vigil was inspired by an exhibit of the original form of Sleep Deprivation torture in Prague, which I saw the day the Abu Ghaib pictures came out,
Skillman's Kiss at The Side Project
and I realized this was the same thing. Telling Trilogy was inspired by Daniel Talbott and I being obsessed with ghost stories. Sleeping World was inspired by the fact that after my friend John Belluso passed away I felt such a loss in not being able to read his final, unfinished play that I felt that was a play in itself. A friend just showed up at my play Birthday in April (which opened on my actual birthday so opening night ended up being my bday party) and apologized that her husband wouldn’t make it. As he’s a high position I.T. guy for a big company – she explained that he “had to go to war all night at the office” and fight this crazy virus. That instantly connected with me in these times with the ongoing financial corruption, economy and the fear of losing your job. It might end up being my new play – I’m going to the Voice and Vision retreat upstate next week with the Women’s Project Playwrights Lab and I’m planning to start work on it then. Hopefully the inspiration will just keep striking!
If you could have one playwright (dead or alive) to be your mentor, who would you choose? Why? Ah! Can’t decide – brain aneurism! But the first choice that came to my head was Caryl Churchill. Caryl’s done so many different plays always with a truth, an essence that burns through. I’ve learned so much just from reading and seeing her plays – what if I met her? Scary ….
As a contemporary playwright, what is your thought on the current fad of remounting old classics with a modern twist? This is something thatseems popular in New York and Chicago. Do you prefer to see new workmounted as opposed to a reinterpretation of something already overlyproduced? There are so many great new plays that do slip through my fingers production-wise just due to my schedule, that I don’t often see classics I’ve already seen. Not so interested in the twist thing. I am interested in new or radical or really interesting adaptations of plays. I chat a little bit about this in a fun theatre cliché debate with Benno on the New Colony blog about the idea of “Faithful Adaptations” (http://www.thenewcolony.org/wordpress/?p=703). It’s interesting about the companies doing this in New York and Chicago – for us I’ve noticed that a lot of the time these are touring companies (like The Bridge Project, which does have a really cool mission). But I would urge new and existing companies to reach out to playwrights. How amazing would it be to have them write a play for your company that is for your specific actors? That’s what my work has been doing with places like Rising Phoenix Rep and Women’s Project. The results have been awesome. Or mix up your season with older and new plays that speak to one another in some way. There’s a real draw for new work when you find the right match. I really respect new companies like Tympanic Theatre Company who know that by opening their doors to playwrights at all levels, they might have to look through more material, but have a great opportunity to make a discovery of a brand, new play just might become that classic!
BONUS ROUND: Deep dish or thin crust? I’d have to say thin for NYC and deep for Chicago!
CRYSTAL SKILLMAN is the author of Birthday and Nobody,produced this year by Rising Phoenix Rep under the direction of Daniel Talbott. The Sleeping World, developed in last year’s Lincoln Center Directors Lab, was read this spring at Rattlestick, Side Project (CH) and was a finalist for this year’s Yale Drama Series. Also this spring, 4 Edges(developed at the 2008 New Harmony Project) was workshopped @ Seaport; The Vigil or the Guided Cradlewas workshopped at Culture Project and Need Theatre (LA). Her short play Kiss was produced at Side Project, as was her play Agony in the Garden last fall; The Telling Trilogy, produced by Rising Phoenix Rep, is published in Plays & Playwrights 2008. Her play Moment of Zen was just commissioned for the Woman’s Project Theatre and performed in Global Cooling earlier this month. She will be developing her new play at the Voice and Vision retreat in late June and writing a new short play for The New Colony Theatre (CH) this fall. Musical Theatre Work in development includes: That’s Andy(Bookwriter/Lyricist) and No Good (Book/Co-Creator). Memberships: MCC Theater Playwrights’ Coalition, E.S.T, Dramatists Guild, R.P.R, Women’s Project Playwrights Lab.
