Abraham, Birney, Busch, Harrison, et al. to Guest Star in an oak tree

F. Murray Abraham, Reed Birney, Charles Busch, Michael Cullen, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Randy Harrison, and James Urbaniak will be among the guest participants in Tim Crouch’s two-actor play an oak tree, which begins performances on Friday, October 27 at the Barrow Street Theatre. Crouch is also directing the production, which will open officially on November 4.

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. Crouch was last seen on stage in New York in My Arm, which played at 59E59 in 2004 and at The Public Theater earlier this year.