Cracked Open

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Gail Kriegel’s Cracked Open peels back the layers of a seemingly high-functioning Brooklyn household to expose the raw emotional, social, and psychological fissures that emerge when their overachieving daughter begins to unravel. With unflinching honesty, the play charts the quiet implosions behind closed doors, revealing how ambition, identity, and mental health collide in intimate, often heartbreaking ways. It’s a poignant dissection of a family under pressure—fragile, flawed, and, above all, human.

Set in the frenetic pulse of 1995 New York City, this hauntingly intimate play unfolds in three intermissionless acts, each a poignant chapter in one family’s harrowing odyssey through mental illness and its reverberations. Act I, “The Beginning,” erupts with the shocking unraveling of Matilde whose psychotic break on the day of her high school graduation sends shockwaves through her family. The act captures the raw confusion and heartbreak of witnessing a loved one’s sudden descent into psychological chaos.

Act II, “The Wilderness,” delves into the bewildering and often brutal terrain of diagnosis and treatment. Here, the family is cast adrift in a system as opaque as it is clinical, and the stage becomes a shifting landscape of hospitals, waiting rooms, and strained silences. The playwright skillfully maps the emotional erosion of each family member, never letting us forget the cost of hope. Act III, “Afterwards,” offers no easy resolutions but dares to glimpse the tentative process of healing. It is a fragile portrait of a family trying to reassemble itself from fragments—grappling with memory, loss, and the faint glimmer of resilience.

Together, the acts form a searing triptych of trauma, endurance, and the elusive search for normalcy in the aftermath of psychological crisis. This is not just a story about illness—it is a meditation on the endurance of love when language fails and reality fractures.

The production’s standout strength lies in its exceptional cast. At the center is Katherine Reis, delivering a riveting performance as Matilde, a recent high school graduate whose unraveling psyche sends shockwaves through her family. Reis fully inhabits the role with fierce commitment, capturing Matilde’s volatility and vulnerability in equal measure. Her breakdown during the graduation party is both harrowing and mesmerizing—an unflinching portrayal that refuses to sanitize or excuse, yet never invites judgment. It’s a brave, layered performance that anchors the entire production.

Pamela Bob brings anguished vulnerability to the role of Matilde’s mother, capturing the quiet devastation of a parent drowning in guilt, confusion, and helplessness. It’s an emotionally taxing role, and Bob shoulders it with grace and raw authenticity, drawing the audience into the depths of her character’s pain. As Rich, Matilde’s father, Bart Shatto delivers a gripping and uncompromising performance. His portrayal lays bare the unraveling of a man clinging to ego and denial, offering a stark and often unsettling portrait of flawed masculinity. Shatto’s bravery lies in his refusal to soften the edges.

The 11-member ensemble of Cracked Open delivers a consistently strong performance, with each actor skillfully distinguishing multiple roles across the production’s emotional terrain. Joyia D. Bradley offers a steady, grounding presence as Willy, a café owner and voice of the community, while Lisa Pelikan lends quiet strength to the grandmother, whose calm resolve attempts to steady the family’s spiral. Scott Harrison stands out in a variety of character parts, particularly as the warm rabbi next door, enriching the play’s broader world with versatility and depth.

Paul Castree plays the father’s gay brother Michael, injecting bursts of reason and his own brand of tough love in scenes with his sibling, a man whose new lack of empathy he no longer recognizes. Jenne Vath, particularly in the role of Sophia, proves herself a standout character actress, revealing full personalities with minimal effort. As Edith, the younger sister, Blaire DiMisa faces one of the play’s most difficult arcs; her performance suggests an unsettling trajectory, hinting that she may be the next to confront the family’s unspoken legacy of mental illness.

Cracked Open centers less on a single character’s path to healing and more on the slow fragmentation of the family in crisis. This structural choice—likely intentional on playwright Kriegel’s part—highlights the far-reaching impact of mental illness on an entire household. However, the relentless emotional intensity and lack of narrative reprieve can at times feel dramatically unbalanced. Still, moments of grace emerge, notably in Rubén Caballero’s tender portrayal of Billy, a 28-year-old fellow patient who connects with Matilde and brings a much-needed sense of compassion. Likewise, the well-meaning neighbors who rally to support the mother in her own personal depression offer flickers of warmth amid the darkness.

The script, while clearly driven by Kriegel’s deep passion for the subject, would benefit from further refinement. As both playwright and director, Kriegel brings urgency and conviction to the material, but the writing often leans into a blunt, overly linear progression. Dialogue tends to be emotionally charged but lacks the subtlety or layered subtext that might give the narrative greater depth and resonance. Key moments arrive with predictability rather than revelation, leaving the piece emotionally earnest but dramatically underpowered.

Directorially, the production would have benefited from a more collaborative or imaginative vision. As it stands, the staging feels merely functional rather than artistically driven. The scenic design—or notable absence of it—undermines the play’s emotional weight. With no set designer credited in the Playbill, the sparse, utilitarian transitions, marked by constant furniture shifts by the cast members, grow repetitive and distracting. While Yang Yu’s lighting and Bill Toles’ sound design offer occasional moments of atmosphere, they fall short of shaping the tone or enhancing the play’s emotional journey. In contrast, costume designers AC Gottlieb and James Nguyen succeed in clearly defining the multitude of characters through grounded, character-appropriate wardrobe choices, providing a much-needed layer of clarity and realism.

At an hour and 40 minutes, Cracked Open is an earnest but often exhausting theatrical experience. Its heart is unquestionably in the right place—tackling the vital and still-stigmatized subject of mental illness with sincerity—but the journey can feel more dutiful than illuminating. Despite these shortcomings, the cast’s unwavering commitment and playwright Kriegel’s courage in confronting such difficult terrain deserve commendation.

With further development—particularly through the guidance of an outside director and the insight of a strong dramaturg—the piece could evolve into a more cohesive and resonant work. As it stands, Cracked Open may not yet achieve the emotional or theatrical impact it aims for, but it succeeds in one crucial way: it initiates a conversation that too often goes unheard. For that alone, it’s a step worth taking.

Cracked Open (through June 28, 2025)

Dream Big World Theatre, Inc.

Theatre Four at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit www.https://bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/cracked-open/

Running time: one hour and forty-five minutes without intermission