Crystal Field Archives - TheaterScene.net

Crystal Field

ON THE TOWN WITH CHIP DEFFAA… AT “THE EDGE MOTEL”

September 25, 2026

"The Edge Motel" is a well-crafted, intricately plotted play. And playwright Tom Rowan certainly has a good feel for dialogue. (He’s a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre, whose work I’ve enjoyed quite a bit over the years. And I'd also heard good things from friends about a play that he had in the Dream Up Festival last year, which I was not able to get to; so I was eager to see this new play of his, whether or not I wound up writing about.) This new play has just three characters, and one simple set. The running time is one hour and 45 minutes, with no intermission. And "The Edge Motel" held me from beginning to end. A bit of judicious pruning would make this good play even better. (More about that later.) But it’s been years since I’ve enjoyed so much a play that arrived with almost no advance publicity. This one really took me by surprise. [more]

Not About Me

January 19, 2023

Eduardo Machado’s 11th play to premiere at Theater for the New City is called "Not About Me" which is a complete misnomer as it is about his life for the last 40 years with his alter ego at its center. Marketed as a “memory play that takes audiences on a haunting journey through the mind of a playwright during Covid-19 lockdown,” in fact, it is about his friends who died during the last pandemic, the mysterious “gay disease” that came to be called AIDS. Other than as a tribute to those lost friends, it is difficult to see the message of the play as it depicts a great deal of risky behavior. [more]

Rosario and the Gypsies

February 22, 2015

Premiering in 1982 as a one-act play with music, author Eduardo Machado, has now revised and expanded it into a full length musical. The first act is a decent all around effort, but the second act is leaden. Taking place 10 years after the first, it’s an interminable update of the character’s lives with numerous flamboyant plot twists. [more]