“Open” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

Highly Recommended **** Delysa Richards astounds us in her stand-up role as Kristen, The Magician in the drama “Open”, being shown online on the Stage Left Theatre website as part of a live virtual performance through Broadway On Demand. In this one-actor show, Richards deftly plays a young woman from Indianapolis who relocates to New York City and lives with her lesbian lover Jenny in their West Village apartment. Through her complex and sensitive monologues, Kristen is open about her autobiography and confesses her deepest thoughts, fears, and aspirations. Various threads come together neatly in this story. We hear about how she and Jenny first met, their commitment to each other, and what it means to truly love. She tells us about how she would buy books on learning how to practice magic tricks and how she first caught sight of Jenny through the openings in the bookshelves in a bookstore. In the process of telling us about her life, Kristen performs table and stage magic for us. This is what rooks us into the larger story, although she always makes it clear that Jenny is the prime magician and that she (Kristen) is actually the magician’s assistant. These tricks make a sad tale fun to watch, especially considering the analogies being made between the different types of magic and the specific events in Kristen’s and Jenny’s life that they are meant to represent. This beautifully crafted and very innovative way of telling this tale is due to Crystal Skillman’s solid, interesting, and lovingly written script in combination with Bobbi Masters’ fine directing, geared to a remote audience.

Upfront we are impressed by just how well Richards has mastered the Stanislavski system of acting. For those unfamiliar with it, this is the technique where an actor gives qualities of reality to imaginary objects. Some of the biggest magic in the show thus has to do with how well the magic tricks are being performed with imaginary props. We are treated to a good number of tricks having to do, for example, with having the audience choose a card or smashing seven hoops together or pulling a flower out of a hat. Credit must go to T. Daniel Productions, who designed the various tricks and the way that Richards performs them. The other huge piece of magic has to do with the hopefulness of magical thinking that goes beyond a mere magician’s tricks. This has to do with “real magic”, otherwise known as ritual magic, or using our intent to make the world conform to our purpose and desires. The show leaves us with the notion that perhaps there can be a way in which we can focus our intent to improve our lives and our times and the way we relive our collective past. Hence the story has less to do with the tricks that magicians perform and more about magical thinking. Kristen makes a nod to Stonewall and the bouquets of flowers that are left there at that well-known New York site. She would love to create a fantastic world where gays, lesbians, and trans people would all be loved and accepted. It is also her deepest wish that street violence would end in major U.S. cities, so that she would “…no longer think frightened thoughts of the world; that is magic.” Most importantly, she is interested in magic as a means for healing individuals and the city as a whole, as she says fantastically to Jenny (but perhaps to herself and everybody listening): “Magic will save you.”

High praise must go to lighting designer Eric Cope, whose colored spotlights and lighting angles accentuate Richards’ emotions—and ours. Without the array of interesting lighting effects, a show based on a monologue would have been monotone. Kudos also must go to sound designer Willow James for the appropriate insertion of music and sound effects to accentuate the presentation, particularly as magic tricks are being performed. Since this is a virtual production, one should not forget the streaming design by David Heimann, which is excellent.

Skillman’s script is a gem in how well she has integrated the performance of magic tricks into the narrative. That said, the story can occasionally be difficult to follow with all the flashbacks and remembrances and personal accounts contained within it. Yet it is Richards’ emotiveness that makes the underlying theme about sexual orientation and violence provocative and engrossing. It is by Kristen’s example that we see how important it is to accept your unique sexuality and yourself, whether other people accept you or not. This is also a cautionary tale about what may result from others’ nonacceptance and outright intolerance of same-sex relationships. Among other things, Kristen explains how Jenny tended to be more open about her lesbianism as compared to Kristen’s more circumspect and cautious approach around her family and in public.

Hence Kristen is uneasy when she first presents herself on stage and introduces herself to her remote audience. Her equivocation can best be summed up by the line: “When I step through the door, will there be a glimmer, an opening.” As with being on stage, so it is in life. It is unclear whether the world will open up to any one of us or whether a relationship will open up to any of us. Despite Kristen’s frankness in unburdening her life story, there are moments when she tries not to display her agony; that is when she engrosses the audience in her magic act. Thus her life, in a sense, is like a good magician’s trick: It’s not what you see but what you don’t see. Engaging the audience distracts her from the reminiscences and the fact that she is hurting. Her focus on her craft is the mark of a great entertainer. Whether we are talking about stage magic or the hopeful belief that real magic will change the world, it’s the prestidigitation in this show that serves as the artifice that makes us all want to listen to everything she has to say.

“Open” runs through November 21, 2021, online on the Stage Left Theatre website.

Live Virtual Performance Schedule:

Friday November 5th at 8:00pmCT
Saturday November 6th at 8:00pmCT
Sunday November 7th at 2:00pmCT

Friday November 12th at 7:00pmCT
Saturday November 13th at 7:00pmCT
Sunday November 14th at 2:00pmCT

Friday November 19th at 7:00pmCT
Saturday November 20st at 7:00pmCT

Thursday November 21st at 6:00pmCT

Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can (suggested price $15) and are available online through: https://www.stagelefttheatre.com/open.

For general information about Stage Left Theatre, go to: https://www.stagelefttheatre.com/.

For questions or assistance, email tix@stagelefttheatre.com or call 773-255-2773.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Open”.