an oak tree to Close January 14; Feldshuh, Ivey Among Final Guests

Walter Bobbie, Tom Cavanaugh, Tovah Feldshuh, Katie Finneran, Judith Ivey, Carolyn McCormick, and Maryann Plunkett will be among the final guest stars in Tim Crouch’s two-actor play an oak tree, which will play its last performance at the Barrow Street Theatre on Sunday, January 14.

In this unusual 65-minute piece, Crouch plays a provincial stage hypnotist who killed a young woman in a car accident. Each night, he asks for a “volunteer” from the audience; this role will be performed by a different person, including the aforementioned actors, at each show. The volunteer, whether male or female, will turn out to be the father of the dead girl. The actors will not have seen the script prior to the show; instead, they will receive all the information necessary via an ear piece (through which Crouch will feed them their lines), a clipboard with the script, or another method.

The show debuted at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland in August 2005; it has since toured England, Latvia, Lithuania, Israel, Ireland, Russia, Canada, and other countries.