by Crystal Skillman
directed by Amy Rummenie
featuring Allison Witham as the Magician
Oct 12 – Nov 3, 2019
The Off-Leash Area Art Box Theater
4200 E 54th St, Minneapolis, MN 55417
Open is a magic show that takes place in the main character’s mind. The audience has been summoned to play a critical role, but why? The Magician presents a myriad of tricks for our entertainment, while attempting the impossible. Is our faith in her illusions enough to rewrite the past? The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and we mustn’t look away.
Performance Schedule
Saturday, Oct 12, 7:30 – Opening with post-show reception
Sunday, Oct 13, 2:00 – Matinee
Monday, Oct 14, 7:30 – Pay What You Can
Thursday, Oct 17, 7:30
Friday, Oct 18, 7:30 – post-show discussion
Saturday, Oct 19, 7:30
Thursday, Oct 24, 7:30 – Audio Described by Connie Fullmer
Friday, Oct 25, 7:30 – post-show discussion
Saturday, Oct 26, 7:30
Sunday, Oct 27, 7:30 – ASL interpreted by Rebecca Rick
Wednesday, Oct 30, 7:30
[no performance on Halloween]
Friday, Nov 1, 7:30 – post-show discussion
Saturday, Nov 2, 7:30
Sunday, Nov 3, 2:00 – Audio Described by Connie Fullmer
Content Warnings
This production contains adult language, and descriptions of physical violence against queer characters. Please contact us with any specific questions about content.
Run time
Approximately 1 hour without intermission.
Cast
“The Magician” — Allison Witham
Production Team
Director — Amy Rummenie
Stage Manager — Chandler Jordan Hull
Swing Stage Manager — Brian Hirt
Costume Designer — Sara Wilcox
Lighting Designer — Tony Stoeri
Sound Designer — Katharine Horowitz
Magic Consultant — Suzanne the Magician
Performance Consultant — Bryan Grosso
Audio Describer — Connie Fullmer
ASL Interpreter — Rebecca Rick
Ticket Policies
Real Cost – $38.00
General Admission – $26.00
Senior – $24.00
Student/Veteran/Active Military – $15.00
Economic Accessibility – $10.00
All seating is general admission regardless of price. Advance sales are handled by Brown Paper Tickets. Tickets may be purchased at the door pending availability.
If you are a SEASON TICKET HOLDER, or if you have a GIFT CERTIFICATE, please email boxoffice@walkingshadowcompany.org for reservations.
A limited number of $10 Economic Accessibility Tickets are available for each performance (advance purchase only). These tickets go on sale on Wednesday, October 2 at 10:00 AM.
Pay What You Can performance on Monday, October 14 at 7:30. ($5 minimum in advance; $1 minimum at the door on space-available basis.)
Content Warnings
This production contains adult language, and descriptions of physical violence against queer characters. Please contact us with any specific questions about content.
Accessibility
The front row of the auditorium is wheelchair accessible. The bathrooms are non-gendered and ADA compliant. Please let us know about any special seating requirements or accommodations.
ASL and Audio Described tickets are Pay What You Can: $5 minimum in advance; $1 minimum at the door on space-available basis.
Audio Described performances Thursday, October 24 at 7:30 and Sunday, November 3 at 2:00 (described by Connie Fullmer).
ASL interpreted performance Sunday, October 27 at 7:30 (interpreted by Rebecca Rick).
All performances of Open occur at:
Off-Leash Area Art Box Theatre
4200 E 54th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55417
Bus or Bike: The Art Box is directly on bus line #22, and a short walk from line #7 and the Light Rail Blue Line (from 50th St Station is the shorter and more pleasant walk). It is also a 15-minute bike ride from Lake & Minnehaha.
Car: Free parking is available on site (20 spaces), as well street parking in the surrounding neighborhood.
Reviews
“Walking Shadow’s production of Crystal Skillman’s new play Open (this is just the second production!) is all around magical storytelling. And such a beautiful and tragic story it tells… The playwright uses the framework of magic to tell an all too real story of a horrific hate crime. This “illusion” is beautifully realized by the entire team at Walking Shadow and #TCTheater favorite Allison Witham in her best performance to date. If you have a spare 65 minutes this weekend, I can’t think of a better way to spend them than with Open.”
“The hour-long one-act is a love story told through magic and metaphor. Sole performer Allison Witham brings skillful pantomime, humor, and authenticity to an intimate story of homophobia, loss, and redemption… Open is a lovely one-woman show about the intimate metaphors magic provides us for interpreting our loves, our lives, and ourselves.
— Melissa Miller, Minnesota Playlist
Press Release
Allison Witham stars in the regional premiere of Open, Crystal Skillman’s one-person magical show
Open
By Crystal Skillman
Directed by Amy Rummenie
Starring Allison Witham as The Magician
October 12 – November 3, 2019 at the Off-Leash Area ArtBox Theater
Open is a magic show that takes place in the main character’s mind. The audience has been summoned to play a critical role, but why?
Open is a magic act that reveals itself to be a resurrection. A woman called The Magician presents a myriad of tricks for our entertainment, while attempting the impossible: to save the life of her partner, Jenny. Is our faith in her illusions enough to rewrite the past? The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and we mustn’t look away. Amazing as it may seem, this Magician’s act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.
This is Open’s second production. It received its debut production in New York this June with All for One Theater Company in a co-production at The Tank Theatre, where it earned playwright Crystal Skillman her fourth NY Times Critics Pick. Her other plays include Geek, Cut, King Kirby, Pulp Vérité, and Rain and Zoe Save the World.
The role of The Magician is performed by Allison Witham. Allison previously appeared in Walking Shadow’s production of 21 Extremely Bad Breakups. Her other recent credits include: Rinky Dink: Mad as Nell or How to Lose a Bly in Ten Days, Rinky Dink Fights Back; Playwrights’ Center: Swine; Artistry: W;t; Frank Theatre: The Cradle Will Rock, The Visit; WLDRNSS: When I Nod My Head You Hit It With a Hammer. She is a Company Member of both Umbrella Collective and Transatlantic Love Affair, and has appeared in all of TLA’s productions, including The Devout and the upcoming production of After the Fires at Illusion Theater.
Walking Shadow founding member and Co-Artistic Director, Amy Rummenie directs. Open is the 29th production she has directed for Walking Shadow. Previous directing credits include Equivocation, 21 Extremely Bad Breakups, Red Velvet, The River, The Christians, A Midwinter Night’s Revel, The Coward, The Whale, Gabriel (2015 Ivey Award for Overall Excellence), The Three Musketeers, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband, and Park Square’s production of School for Lies by David Ives.
The creative team includes costumes by Sara Wilcox (The River, The Christians, The Coward, Gabriel, The Sexual Life of Savages), lights by Tony Stoeri (Equivocation, Gabriel, The Sexual Life of Savages), sound by Katharine Horowitz (The River, The Aliens, The Whale, The Sexual Life of Savages, Some Girl(s)), and magic consulting by master of tabletop magic Suzanne the Magician (find her online at www.suzmagic.com – no really, she’s awesome).
About Walking Shadow Theatre Company:
Since 2004, Walking Shadow Theatre has created well-staged and carefully-researched independent theater. Walking Shadow has won two Ivey Awards for Overall Excellence for its productions of Gabriel and Compleat Female Stage Beauty. Other popular productions include Red Velvet, A Midwinter Night’s Revel, The Coward, The Whale, our original adaptation of The Three Musketeers at the Guthrie Theater, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Jon Ferguson and John Heimbuch’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The Transdimensional Couriers Union by John Heimbuch. Walking Shadow is also currently running the ongoing immersive puzzle show Cabal by David Pisa & John Heimbuch. Open is Walking Shadow’s 47th production, and the first show in its 16th season.
Reviews
“The real magic of the play is in the production elements of light and sound. Over the course of the show, Kristen juggles invisible balls, ties invisible rope, feeds an invisible parrot, shuffles invisible playing cards, joins invisible hoops, wears invisible chains, and walks an invisible tightrope. Precisely timed sound by Katharine Horowitz creates the experience of the balls landing, the parrot fluttering, the cards sliding over one another. Lighting Design by Tony Stoeri creates the tightrope that Kristen must walk (both literally and metaphorically) as she toes the line of authenticity and acceptance. These technical elements are the magic of theatre, and Crystal Skillman’s script provides a perfect playground for designers to be imaginative. Instead of realism, audiences are given fantasy through which reality can be seen more clearly.
To this role, Allison Witham brings a likeable air of eager-to-please performativity combined with a desperate need to communicate. Witham’s skillful pantomime amplifies the magic brought to the small black box by lighting and sound. This show is an impressive technical feat – each cue falls exactly in place as Kristen tells the story of her lover, Jenny… Amy Rummenie’s direction ties technical and performance elements together with specificity, vulnerability, and intentionality… Open is a lovely one-woman show about the intimate metaphors magic provides us for interpreting our loves, our lives, and ourselves.”
-Melissa Miller, Minnesota Playlist
“Allison Witham is mostly known for her work in physical theater, particularly with Transatlantic Love Affair, of which she’s a company member. She definitely uses those skills here; she’s alone on an empty stage with just a chair and a hat, but yet she creates the entire world with specific and precise movements. She plays multiple characters in the story, making them all vocally and physically distinct, and really opens up to some vulnerable moments. Pun intended; the title refers to what the Magician learns from her girlfriend – being open about who she is, and also being open to the experiences of life one can have when being one’s full and authentic self. It’s a beautiful message.
Open is playing in the Off-Leash Art Box, with the intimate black box space set up as a tiny traditional theater space with risers on one side and the performance space on the other. It’s totally unrecognizable from the other shows I’ve seen there, and well suited to the storytelling since we are at a magic show performance. The lighting (by Tony Stoeri) and sound (by Katharine Horowitz) design and Allison’s performance work together seamlessly to create the delightful imaginary magic tricks.
With the continued rise of hate crimes against the LGBTQ community and proposed changes in legislation that threaten civil rights, it’s an important time to tell this very real, human, magical, beautiful story of a relationship.”
-Cherry and Spoon
“Allison Witham has been a significant contributor to queer theater work as an actor for Savage Umbrella and Transatlantic Love Affair, two of the most imaginative theater troupes in the Twin Cities. She plays in the one person magical show by Crystal Skillman titled Open for Walking Shadow Theatre Company, another notably imaginative group of high quality. She shares: “This show is a really beautiful reflection on how coming out and living as a out-and-proud queer person is the only way to live an authentic life. Even if it is scary, even if it can be dangerous, especially now. The character I play, Kristen, has had a lifelong struggle with her identity as a queer woman, and in meeting the love of her life, Jenny, she begins her journey to finding her courage as well as settling into her identity. The drive and drama of the show centers around Kristen’s worst fears about being out becoming a reality. Her negotiations with reality and magic, identity and survival, are wrapped up in Jenny’s fate.”
-John Townswend interviews Allison Witham, Lavender Magazine