First of all, you wrote a trilogy. Why a trilogy?
Daniel Talbott approached me in fall of 2005 to write a short “ghost story play” for his company Rising Phoenix Rep to be performed at Jimmy’s No. 43, a cool, eerie bar on the lower east side. The timeline Daniel proposed was very quick and intense which can be really scary (no pun intended!) but right up my alley. When I’m jazzed about something, I love it to be challenging as I kind of love working fast and intensely with a clear goal. I ended up writing the first draft of The Telling, the first play of the trilogy, in about five days. After The Telling was rehearsed and on its feet, it was clear that Daniel and I worked really well together, and that I worked with the company just as well. Daniel asked me to write two more “ghost story plays” for Jimmy’s No. 43 and then I was even more excited. As a writer I was thrilled to have my own little theatre series and we both began to see how these three pieces should stand on their own, but ultimately belong together in a trilogy. (Photo of Crystal was taken by her husband, Fred Van Lente, at Jimmy's No. 43.)
Where'd you get the idea for these plays?
I tried to pick certain themes and questions that would prey upon the fears and hopes we have as humans in our own lives. I wanted them to be theatrical ones, ones that would do well in the act telling these strange encounters or experiences to one another. I find Conor McPherson is a master of these sorts of things and his grounded approach to the supernatural was the kind of artistic approach to the project we wanted.
For The Telling I first came up with the idea of two estranged sisters who had come together in their parents’ old place, only to find a mysterious, sealed box. When I realized I wanted one of them to be a ghost, the ghost hunter character emerged. I wanted him to be reflective of those out there searching and believing and completely dedicated to the search. Only rather than being goofy, as these things can end up being, I wanted his coming upon the sisters to be the most terrifying moment in the play.
The idea for The Ride came even more quickly after Daniel suggested we use the long, slender hallway between the backroom and the rest of the Jimmy’s No. 43. In my research I became interested in the idea of a ghost possessing someone. What would make it even more interesting to me would be the idea of someone who was so empty inside, such as the character of Will, that perhaps, in some bizarre way, that would be the best thing for them.
The story explored in The Reaching took much longer to come up with and then even longer to write. I was hung up a bit by the impulse to bring back Vic or perhaps the ghost hunter. It was only by jumping ahead in time and having Vic’s disappearance be the reason for the unexpected gathering of these three very lost souls and totally new characters (Vic’s daughter Kay who looks like Ty, Worth, a medium friend of Vic’s and the mysterious Man) that I felt the story as a whole could be brought to a close.
Daniel was a good sounding board for when things got too “oogy-boogy,” (as Daniel used to say) which would force me to not rely on the supernatural stuff, but go back to what the characters truly needed from each other in these dark, humorous but quite desperate situations.
How did you first get involved with Rising Phoenix and what do you like about working with them?
I first met Daniel Talbott, and his company Rising Phoenix Rep, through the MCC Theater Playwrights’ Coalition which I’m a member of. Stephen Willems, the Literary Manger & Resident Dramaturg, often cast members from the company in our Playlab readings. Daniel and I got to know each other and he asked to work on a play of mine called Tooth at Manhattan Theatre Source. I was impressed with his work then and became even more so after seeing Mark Schultz’s Gift, which Daniel directed for the company at the Fringe. I remember being so awestruck by the simple, elegant and dark production they put on in the basement of P.S. 122 that I kept talking to him and Addie Johnson, his wife who played Vic in The Telling, as they struck everything and were packing up to go home. I ended up helping pack as well and to bring things back to their place, also in Brooklyn. It’s so rare to work with people that you feel are artistically gifted and great for your work who also have this real sense of community. Rising Phoenix Rep is just that for me. They and their gifted members who include Denis Butkus, Julie Kline and Samantha Soule, who also acted in The Telling Trilogy, bring a great dedication to presenting work in such a grounded and startling manner. They and Daniel were there for me when the writing was easy and also when the writing was hard, which means a lot! They always had a knack for pointing me in the right direction and encouraging me to take risks under their support. I learned a lot about what I’d like from a producing company that I’m now hoping to apply to some self-producing initiatives I’ll be trying out in the next couple of years.
Jimmy's No. 43 is not a conventional theatre space by any means. What was it like doing the trilogy there?
That was hands-down the most fun part about writing The Telling Trilogy. I had never written site-specifically before. And when we got started, I didn’t even know that’s how I’d be writing. I didn’t know what to expect, clutching my little moleskin pad in hand, when I first met with Daniel in the back room of Jimmy’s. Daniel was really excited about the space and started pointing out places where he thought he could stage the play, which had not yet been written. I didn’t even know what I was going to write yet! Now Jimmy’s has a small stage in the corner, but Daniel is pointing out the bathrooms, an alcove behind a wall that has an opening and basically everything in the room BUT the stage. So I ask him what about the stage and Daniel says, “Oh, we’re not using the stage.” That was a very liberating, exciting thing for me and I instantly started taking note of what areas had real “theatrical power” in the room as well as any noises I’d hear or sights I’d see in that room. As with all the plays, once I knew the story I wanted to tell, I made a game of trying to incorporate as many things as possible into the script. What’s cool about writing like this is that you’re dealing with any possible issues in performance. If there’s loud music coming through the wall, well, it works because it’s written to be the back room of a bar or downstairs in the basement with the bar above or in the next room where there’s a weird celebration going on. Writing like this helped me be even more specific in my writing and has even helped me in writing other works, like the NY Neo-Futurists production Apocalypse Neo that I wrote a play for. It’s a way of working I’ve even applied to a new full-length The Sleeping World set in a rehearsal room. I was just in New Dramatists about to go out with my friend, fellow playwright Caridad Svich, to brunch when I looked around in the second floor reading space and realized that’s where I needed to set my new play. I started to take notes, Caridad entered with her purse, and I asked for five more minutes before we left so I could write down what I saw. Caridad, without skipping a beat, as she certainly knows what it’s like to be inspired, simply said okay and came back in five minutes. Thank you Caridad!
You originally started out studying photography in college, then switched to theatre. Why the move?
It was always a struggle to decide between the two and for a few years I was doing both. Then I finally asked myself – do I want to see my work as part of an audience watching a piece unfold in certain set amount of time in a theatre or do I want people to walk into a gallery space, whenever they want, and encounter a piece of work on the wall or that was installed? I immediately answered that I needed to see my work with an audience in a theatrical space. I also felt that the strengths I had as a photographer would help me as a writer. My sense of composition and eye for dramatic storytelling through visuals could translate well to the stage I thought, but I wasn’t so sure how my need to be more verbal could be a part of my photographs. So ultimately, playwriting won though I have a few ideas for a collection of photographs that I do hope to pursue at some point.
You've had some pretty strong and influential playwriting mentors, such as Mac Wellman, Christopher Shinn, and the late John Belluso. As a writer, what do you draw from each of them?
I’ve often wondered if I should formally study playwriting. But then I learn something new from a production or collaborator that I could only learn in a way “on the job.” And that’s pretty much how my “training” has been. Chris Shinn and John Belluso were a part of a group in the late 90s/early 2000s called Youngblood, which used to be run by Chris Smith, at EST. And all the writers in that group (including David Zellnik, Rachel Hoeffel, and Edith Freni) really taught me a lot. In particular I think I learned so much from John and Chris because their work was so challenging in all the right ways. Their plays ask really big questions, which for me, is the kind of plays I’m drawn to. John’s work was so theatrically imaginative and brought up issues about disability in such a new way that he was literally inventing a new kind of play. Chris’s work was all about asking all these big questions in small, intimate and often haunting ways. It took a while for people to understand how Chris’s dramatic action was so subtle and in essence, very real, to how we deal with problems in our own lives. Studying each of their plays, and being friends with them of course, allowed me to begin to see just how they were creating this kind of work. Which of course, I could now apply to writing my own work. Getting to know Mac’s work and then to ultimately get to take a pataphysics class with him at the Flea Theatre totally rocked my world. Mac is all about breaking rules and drawing us into some of the most amazing worlds created for the stage. He was incredibly supportive in the workshop and is actually responsible for me writing some of my first lyrics for an experimental playwriting exercise! Every time I run into him, talk to him, he is there in a way that I’ve found no other theatre professional is. There for not just his own work, but for the thrill of seeing and nurturing other new experimental writers. Whenever I doubt if I can keep writing and putting myself out there, I think of how hard and long he worked to bring his plays to production. As you can tell, I find him to be a huge inspiration. All three of these writers have also really believed in my work which is the biggest inspiration of all in a lot of ways.
Your husband, Fred Van Lente, writes for Marvel Comics. What's it like being married to another writer?
This a perfect question to follow the previous one as Fred has been another big influence on my writing, professionally and personally, of course. While it might seem stressful to have two writers under the same roof, especially since Fred and I are so headstrong, it’s absolutely the best thing to have ever happened to me. We are able to be there for each other in a way that only people who share the same joys and woes of a difficult profession can do. When I’m down because I didn’t get something, Fred knows what that’s been like and tries to get me thinking about my next new play instead of dwelling on the past. When I’m overjoyed at my great opportunities (like being published in Plays & Playwrights 2008!), Fred is the first one to cheer me on. Professionally, we are each other’s best editors – we always show each other our scripts as soon as they’re ready to show and get each other’s feedback, which of course is where our headstrong nature really comes out. We really fight for what we’re trying to get each other to understand because we believe so much in each other’s work and in making it the best it can possibly be. We’re also pretty funny on our own but when we team up we’re like some kind of comedy show. Crazy, good stuff. We have collaborated in the past – most recently Fred asked me to write lyrics for a song that Dr. Doom of Fantastic Four was going to sing in an alternate “musical-theatre like” universe in his What If ... story which was a total blast. We’re currently concocting a new play that we’re going to actually co-write, so look forward to hearing more about that in the future!
What other projects do you have coming up next?
The most immediate stuff coming up for me in that my play The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, about a girl who’s father is the general of Abu Ghraib and how she finds herself connected to the man who invented sleep deprivation torture in medieval times, is being read in hotINK 2008 on Feb. 2nd. The Ride (the second part of Telling Trilogy) will be directed by Lauren Keating in the spring as a part of Prospect Theater’s Dark Nights Series. I just finished my new play The Sleeping World, which I’m very excited to develop next year. Work as always continues in the musical theatre arena with That’s Andy, a musical I’ve written the book & lyrics for and I’ll be working with the composer, Kevin Carter, on some new musical works. It also looks like I’ll continue developing my rock musical 72 Devils with director/composer Jerry Ruiz as well.
Interview with Crystal Skillman was conducted by Michael Criscuolo January 2008.