While shooting BURLESQUE, I was able to slip out for one night to open this really fascinating two person play by Tim Crouch on January 6, 2010 at The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles.

An Oak Tree

The brilliant Tim Crouch wrote and performs “An Oak Tree” with a new guest actor every night. A guest actor who knows absolutely nothing about the play before going onstage other than how he or she will learn what to say as the play continues. I was the guest actor for the opening night and was happy to be there from the first moment I sat down and realized that I hadn’t been on stage in a blackbox theatre in a very, very long time.  It felt like we were all part of a living painting. I was busy making little spots of color where directed and we all discovered the bigger picture as it happened. It was a powerful experience. Dan Fishbach, Michelle Spears and Mark Platt produced it.

Here are is a quote from the Los Angeles Times review:

“From an actor’s perspective, that may sound a bit harrowing. But on opening night, guest artist Peter Gallagher plunged boldly into Crouch’s construct, delivering a performance of such authority it seemed almost impossible to believe that he had no previous knowledge of his material… On opening night, Gallagher’s grief-stricken father produced an atmosphere of anguish that cast light on some of Crouch’s impenetrable themes. Of course, the tone will necessarily change with each new performer, but the final point, one suspects, will remain elusive. What is clear is that Crouch is an assured puppet master who inspires trust in his intrepid guest performers. In that regard, Crouch’s multilayered play is as much a master class in acting as it is an intriguing meta-theatrical exercise.”

- F. Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times