Drama/ 4 Characters, 3 Men, 1 Woman (teens)/ Full Length, 85 minutes
Synopsis: Set in a suburban community of eastern Pennsylvania, Crystal takes place in an abandoned woodshed, circa 1981. Andy, 17, has left the body of a 16-year-old girl under the floor. Hoping to gain status with two close friends, Ralph and Joey, he brings them to view the body. When they return the next day, however, the hole under the floor is empty, and Crystal, the girl, appears soiled and livid from outside.
What follows is an intense and gritty character study of teens whose behavior is a mirror of the chaotic world outside the shed. Overweight and insecure, Andy takes out his frustrations on the women around him; Ralph hides his pain at his brother’s death behind a thickening emotional wall; Joey will do almost anything to dispel his all-American boy image; and Crystal’s search for love leads instead to violence. Insightful, compassionate, Crystal provides a startling glimpse into four desperate young lives.
Contact information: Amateur and professional rights:
Fred Rohan Vargas
E-mail: info@miuprod.com
rohanvargas@gmail.com
Website: miuprod.com
About the Playwright: Fred Rohan Vargas is the author of several full lengths, one acts and children’s plays that have been produced throughout the country and abroad. He holds a MFA in dramatic writing from New York University. Two of his plays have been published by The Riant Theatre (Anything But Black) and JAC Publishing and Promotions (Crystal). He is founder and executive producer of Mixing It Up Productions, LLC. He has received three nominations for his play Tide Beyond the Rift at the Midtown International Theatre Festival (2014) and has had his play Crystal produced in Bucharest, Romania the same year. As a producer, Fred has just finished a three month run at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre of his children’s musical, Yaki Yim Bamboo the Musical.
Fred also shows his ability in other genres by writing instrumental pieces for jazz, film and TV. A renaissance artist in the making, he has been noted by Song of the Year Songwriting Contest, Unisong International Song Writing Contest, Billboard World Song Contest, John Lennon Songwriters Contest and Great American Song Contest. His music is on a compilation of 3 CDs.
Fred has served on the theatre/dance grants panel for the Queens Council on the Arts, the board of judges for the Daytime Emmy Awards (sponsored by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences), the grant committee of the Huntington Arts Council, and the Board of Directors of the New York Children’s Theatre and Ripple Effect Artists, Inc. He is a member of The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Dramatists Guild, Resource Unlimited (TRU), and the Off-Broadway Alliance.
Crystal was first produced by The Latino Experimental Fantastic Theatre (L.E.F.T.) at The Clemente Solo Velez Cultural Center, New York City in January, 2001.