In brief: Crystal worked in Atlanta for five years before moving to New York in 2007. She just won a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in Clybourne Park, a provocative play by Bruce Norris about race, real estate and the volatile values of each. The title references the neighborhood the Younger family planned to move to in the landmark A Raisin in the Sun. In Act 1, Crystal plays Francine, a maid working in the house the Youngers will buy. In Act 2, some 50 years later, she plays Lena, the grand-niece of Raisin matriarch Lena Younger. Crystal also teaches, as time permits, at New York’s Pace University. (For more about her, check out the “Debut of the Month” column on broadwayworld.com.)
Of note: Clybourne Park recently won the 2012 Tony Award for best play. The ferocious drama also won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and London’s Olivier Award for best play. Crystal has been with Clybourne Park since it debuted at Playwrights Horizon off-Broadway in 2010.
Hometown: Born in Belleville, N.J., raised in Irvington, where she lives now with actor-husband Brandon Dirden, also an ex-Atlantan, and her parents.
All in the family: Dirden understudies the actor playing Crystal’s Clybourne Park stage husband.
Where you’ve seen her: In Metamorphoses, Comedy of Errors and The Cherry Orchard at Georgia Shakespeare; in the world premiere of Women + War at Synchronicity Theatre; in Bus Stop and Piano Lesson at Theatre in the Square; and in the world premiere of Maria Kizito at 7 Stages.
First time onstage: As a reporter bunny in a second-grade Easter play.
Education: A B.A. in elementary education and English from Seton Hall University and an MFA in acting from the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana.
Acting as a career: Seton Hall had no theater department; it did have a professor named Deirdre Yates who directed all the plays. Crystal was in The Colored Museum as a freshman, and the two became fast friends. “I never took an acting class from her, but I was in every play she directed. When time came for me to graduate, she asked me what I was going to do and I said, ‘Teach kindergarden,’ and she said, ‘No, I am going to coach you, and you are going to graduate school and study acting.’ She did and I did.”
Dream role: “The role I am working on now is a dream. It is something I got to create from the ground up, and I am really proud of that accomplishment. I love new plays! So I guess my dream is to continue to be a part of creating new work. I am not sure what that will look like, but I am excited by the possibilities.”
Next: If all goes well, she and husband Brandon (right) will return to Georgia Shakespeare in the fall to play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
The last word: “Atlanta gave me wings, and for that I am eternally grateful.”
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Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, covering or working in the performing arts for most of her life. Please email: [email protected].
