Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Processing personal crises through performance: Crystal Skillman’s OPEN and Carl Holder’s OUT OF ORDER

• By drediman
• July 18, 2025
• No Comments

Currently on the boards far from the bright lights of the Great White Way are a pair of dramas that use the intimacy of the solo show format to process personal crises. As always, read on for my assessment of these thoughtfully construed performances.

OPEN
WP Theater
Through July 27

Currently at Off-Broadway’s WP Theater on the Upper West Side, you’ll find Megan Hill in Crystal Skillman’s solo show Open (RECOMMENDED). Presented by Midnight Theatricals, the work was originally seen at The Tank in 2019, where it garnered strong word of mouth. In short, the efficiently yet ingeniously-plotted play tells the story of Kristen, a writer whose romantic relationship with her girlfriend Jenny ends traumatically when their views on commitment don’t align (let’s just say that things end up tragically violently; no spoilers here). Throughout, Skillman correlates writing — more specifically the conjuring power of words within the context of memory and storytelling — with magic trickery. Even though close to no magic is performed over the course of the play’s 75 minutes, iconic tricks are mimed by Hill to accompany major plot points. It’s an apt if somewhat obvious parallel that Skillman draws, but it works thanks largely to the honesty of Hill’s performance as Kristen — or The Magician, as we initially meet her as — keeping the dramatic arc of the play grounded and focused. Although loss and regret play a central part in the experience of watching Open unfold, there’s also hope and healing to round out the work’s emotional makeup. The production has been subtly directed by Jessi Hill, whose staging is supported by the expert work of lighting and scenic designers Sarah Johnston and Emma Wilk, respectively.

OUT OF ORDER
East Village Basement
Through July 30

Down at East Village Basement performing his own brand of alchemy is Carl Holder in his deceptively playful, somewhat interactive solo show Out of Order (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (presented by Most Unwanted Productions, the show has just been extended for the final time through July 30). On the surface, the gimmick here is relatively simple — Holder has been charged to perform a parade of tasks — many of the dares, really — as indicated by randomly-chosen index cards from a bowl full of them (throughout, he’s aided and overseen in deadpan silence by a referee, who also works the tech aspects of the show). When he completes the final task, the show ends. The impetus for all this is Holder’s mid-life crisis, particularly as a broke theater-maker of a certain age. Struggling with a bad case of writer’s block, he has instead gone down the unique route of embarking on this nightly mission of self-discovery to make sense of this time in his life. Holder is a friskily energetic and charismatic stage presence, whose keen intelligence and considerable talent as a performer thankfully lends emotional and dramatic coherence to this experiment (kudos also to director Skylar Fox’s polished and resourceful staging). Numerous times, he puts himself in vulnerable positions, testing the limits of his candidness with a roomful of strangers (at one point, he even shares the contents of his most recent bank account statement in excruciating detail). It’s a performance that’s startlingly in the moment, made all the more wrenching and cathartic given its autographical nature.