Tim’s Blog: #12 – Farewells
Farewells
The last show is Josh Radnor. A lovely show to end on. Josh is calm and clear-sighted and up for it. Technically and emotionally connected. He’s an old friend of producer Dan. They went to Kenyon College together. The theatre is full and includes three past second actors in the audience – Floyd Van Buskirk, who is seeing it for the third time, Lisa Wolpe and Jennifer Leigh Warren. Afterwards, a five minute get out and a small leaving do in the February sunshine. We all bundle into cars and head downtown to the RedCat Theatre where we watch an inexplicable North Atlantic by the Wooster Group. In that show are two past second actors, Maura Tierny and Frances McDormand.
The LA Oak Tree company feels like a family this evening. We talk about the experience of North Atlantic in relation to the experience of the last six weeks. An Oak Tree isn’t perfect. It’s not a big show, but it knows why it exists. We feel pretty good. We head to the roof bar of the Standard Hotel. This is my last night in LA – sitting amongst the gleaming towers of downtown LA, helicopters flying overhead, glamorous couples celebrating Valentines day. It’s time to go home.
This is it, then. Goodbye LA. Goodbye Odyssey Theatre. Goodbye palm trees. Goodbye Oakwood Apartments at Marina Del Rey. Goodbye Ralphs and the San Francisco Saloon and EZ Lube and the Magic Castle. Goodbye Jerry and Beth and Ron. Goodbye David and Brian and Jean and Jesse and Clancy. Goodbye Venice Beach and Spongebob and snow-capped mountains.
Goodbye 34 beautiful actors with whom I had the immeasurable honour to work. Goodbye lovely audiences who fell asleep and stood up and gasped and questioned.
And, most importantly, goodbye my most wonderful team of producers. Dan, Michele and Will – and honorary producer, the mighty Dave Bushnell. They saw An Oak Tree when it opened in Edinburgh in 2005 and my presence in LA was the realization of a dream they hatched then to bring it here. What can I tell you about these people? They have done so much for me. Dan Fishbach was my first point of contact. We met in a pub in Chelsea, London, on August 21st 2008. Then again in Seattle. Then in New York. He is a beautiful specimen – with a diet Coke in his hand; a slightly disheveled tee-totaller with a Lexus. He is dry and tender and clever and funny and a bit jaded and has been by my side all the time. Dan, I believe, has seen every performance of An Oak Tree in LA. He arrives at the theatre with his Bluetooth headset in his ear, he flicks me the bird and makes everything all right. He is genius.
If Dan is the soul of the production, Will Adashek is the brain. What he doesn’t know about sound and light, about spreadsheets and bank transfers ain’t worth knowing. He is like a wise gnomic presence floating above the emotional chatter of the rest of us. Dan and Will have known each other for years – and Page One Productions is their baby. Will is unflappable – methodical in his problem solving, a vital support to the team. He and his girlfriend, Marie, are never far away from the show.
The third partner in the Page One venture is Michele Spears. Michele is the heart. She has a smile that cracks her face in half. She is a ball of positive energy. She loves An Oak Tree and isn’t afraid to show it. She believes in it for herself, but also for the future of theatre! She is principled and passionate. She wears her heart on her sleeve. There are some performances when I have no idea how it went – and on those days I trust Michele’s judgement. She sees everything and feels everything. Her enthusiasm is rejuvenating. She is also an exceptional improviser and human being. Everyone needs a Michele Spears in their life. Which is lucky for Dave Bushnell because he lives with her. Dave is mighty. He is modest and sharp and very funny. He deserves his own show. He, like Michele and Dan, has seen almost every show and his engagement has never waivered. He and Michele go to bed discussing the play. Dave is a fine man – in the organ analogy, he is the bollocks.
Finally, some thanks. To you, for reading this. To the Odyssey Theatre for hosting my stay. To Marc Platt, whom I have never met, but whose generous backing made this whole thing possible. Thank you Marc. Thank you to the infallible Rachel Manheimer, my Stage Manager. Huge thanks to Stephanie Klapper and Ginny Lee at Stephanie Klapper Casting for finding some outstanding actors for the run. And – to Flora Stamadiades, the National Director, Organizing and Special Projects at Actors’ Equity. It is not a Waiver, it is a 99 Seat Plan.
Posted: February 15, 2010 at 9:52 am by Tim Crouch
Tim’s Blog: #11
So very nearly there.
Six more actors and then that’s it. The week begins with a bike ride to Santa Monica with my dear friend Brian Parsons and then supper with Brian and my other old, old friend David Bridel. Three Brits in LA. I don’t want to say goodbye to them, but I’m looking forward to going home.
Wednesday night is Rich Sommer. I am terrible television watcher – and I haven’t seen Mad Men. I will seek it out from now on because it has lovely people in it. Friends in the UK have been super excited that I have two actors from the series playing consecutive nights of An Oak Tree. Rich is the first. He’s lucky because he’ll be able to watch the second. He confesses to having arranged it this way. We have a great time. He is clear and honest in the play – his ego dips under and the story emerges. His openness allows the play to fill the stage. I am very happy. In the bar afterwards he describes the experience as being a little like when he lost his virginity – an understanding (and a contiguous sadness) that he will never do that again!
Thursday night is the second Mad Man – Michael Gladis. Rich had phoned Michael after the show the night before. They had established some cryptic code – neither would talk about the show, other than a simple call on who would buy whom a drink after the second performance. Rich had simply told Michael that Michael would be buying the drinks… Michael is another treat in the play. Immediately after, he confesses that he felt that he was playing ‘a little behind the curve’. It was a beautiful confession. I replied that it is not possible to be on the curve in this play. It will not let you settle in – it constantly pushes you in to the moment, a moment that cannot be approached with any leisurely consideration. The story moves fast and our job is to always be a little behind the story. Michael is like a sponge to the story. I see it visibly enter him and soak deeply in. At times he is lost, at times we both just stand there as the play is poured into us by the audience. It is a most absorbent performance! He takes his time, he finds his way. I find it very moving. Rich comes back stage immediately after. He says that he felt jealous watching his friend do the show. He wanted to have the instructions again! Michael said it felt like grief – knowing that the experience could not be repeated. We decamp to the San Francisco Saloon on Pico – Rich, Michael, Michael’s cousin, a woman who sells ladybugs – and others. We’re there till midnight, making bonds with each other. It is a fine night.
Friday night is Megan Gallagher and new things happen. Theatre operates in our conscious and unconscious minds. An Oak Tree accesses both areas – giving instructions to the conscious (or rational), whilst allowing the subconscious to submerge into the story. Some of the instructions I give are in opposition to the story. I ask Megan (and the audience) not to volunteer for the Hypnotist’s show and then, in character, the Hypnotist asks for volunteers. Usually it is the audience who are wrong-footed and get up to join me. Tonight, Megan’s subconscious overrides the rational and up she gets – despite unequivocal instructions not to. It’s lovely. The play has to stop, the fiction is ‘parked’ whilst we work out the rational framework that under-pins the production. Than back we go again into the subconscious. It happens with Megan a number of times – with stoppages each time – until she finally works it out. And then off she goes! We have a talk back after this performance in which an audience members says he was convinced the stoppages were intentional. Unless you see the show more than once, you will never know. Clancy Brown, who was the second actor in my first week in LA said that only after having been in it and seen it twice did he feel that he had finally ‘seen’ the play.
Saturday matinee is Alex Kingston – coming to the show through my co-director, Karl James, whose old friend, Winks, is married to Alex’ sister. Alex arrives late. Just over half an hour before the show is due to start. For a moment before she arrives Dan and I talk about alternatives – Tracey Burns from the Impro Theatre is coming to see the show. She could do it if Alex fails to show. Or I could just walk on stage and ask for a volunteer. I always get excited at this latter prospect, but it’s never happened. And it doesn’t happen this time. Alex arrives and she is magnificent. She is a listening creature – taking in my edited pre-show chat, sharp, alert, dazzling. Before the show she asks if she can perform in bare feet – she says she always does this in rehearsal, it keeps her grounded. I can’t refuse – and grounded she becomes. New things. So many new things. She volunteers for the Hypnotist’s show waving her arm in the air and bouncing up out of her seat. She just goes for it. In the monologue I feed to her she starts with a ring-master’s ‘ladies and gentlemen’ and then proceeds to pick up all the chairs that are on their sides. She sits on one close up to the audience and batters them gently with ‘nod your head if you understand’. I look in her eyes and it is as though time stands still. She takes her authority! She trusts her instinct. She is so free, the play just pours out of her. At the end of the show Michele comes to thank her with tears in her eyes. Friends of Alex’ have had to leave the theatre without seeing her because they are too upset. We go to the San Francisco Saloon and talk about this and that. The play has passed through her and I am floating on air.
Saturday night is Wendie Malick. She seems like a Hollywood essence – impossibly slim and glamorous, a long career with many awards and nominations, a house in the hills, a view to the ocean, horses, good causes. I feel impertinent, asking this essence to get down and dirty in the 99 seat space of the Odyssey theatre. But Wendie is up for it. She is connected – her voice strong, her presence clear. She runs with the offers, crouching in the corner of the stage, holding moments, burrowing her way into the story. Her ninety year old father is in the audience, visiting from Buffalo, New York. He thanks me for giving his eyes and ears a stretch… Wendie heads off with her family and I head off to the bar – where lovely Michael Gladis joins us. Michael’s character in Mad men smokes a pipe. I like to smoke an imaginary pipe sometimes. Last night, Michael has a present for me of a corn-cob pipe, a small amount of English mix tobacco, a box of matches and a pipe cleaner. He packs it for me – the child, mother, father method. We stand outside the bar and puff away. I do not inhale. This is my last night at the San Francisco Saloon. I will miss Kim the waitress. I will miss the Sam Adams and the whole wheat BLT.
One more show to go.
Posted: February 14, 2010 at 10:02 am by Tim Crouch
News: Actor WENDIE MALICK was in An Oak Tree Tonight
Actor Wendie Malick was in AN OAK TREE tonight, for the penultimate performance. An Oak Tree closes tomorrow, Sunday after the 2pm performance.
For seven seasons on Just Shoot Me, Wendie Malick starred as Nina Van Horn, the outrageous ex-model and fashion editor (one Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations). She then joined the cast of Frasier for their final season as Ronnie Lawrence. Other series favorites: Big Day, Good Company and HBO’s groundbreaking comedy, Dream On (four Cable Ace Awards). She has been a guest on CSI, The X-Files, LA Law, NYPD Blue, Seinfeld, Cybil, and of course, Law And Order, to name just a few. She starred in many movies for television: Take My Advice (playing both Ann Landers and Abby Van Buren), Hello Sister, Goodbye Life, Will You Merry Me?, Apollo 11, Dynasty: The Miniseries, Paper Dolls, and North Shore Fish, in a role she originated on stage. Malick’s feature film credits include Adventureland, Confessions Of A Shopaholic, Racing Stripes, The American President, The Emperor’s New Groove, Jerome, On Edge, Trojan Wars, Bugsy, A Little Sex, Funny About Love and the cult classic, Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video. Upcoming films: The Goods, Alvin and the Chipmunks: (The Squeakqual), Fifty-Nothing and I Was a 7th Grade Dragon Slayer. Malick’s theatrical credits Off Broadway: North Shore Fish , Burleigh Grimes. Los Angeles: Victor Bumbalo’s Questa, and Oliver Hailey’s Round Trip ( Artistic Director’s Award nomination as Best Lead Actress). Vagina Monologues, Santaland Diaries, and Steve Martin’s The Underpants, Regional: The Guys (Studio Arena), Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Helen Gahagan Douglas (Wooly Mammoth), and Blithe Spirit (Williamstown)
Posted: February 13, 2010 at 12:33 am by Dan Fishbach
News: MAD MEN’S Michael Gladis was in An Oak Tree on Thurs!
Actor Michael Gladis, best known for playing Paul Kinsey on TV’s Mad Men was in AN OAK TREE on Thursday! Who will be next? ONLY FOUR SHOWS LEFT!! COME FIND OUT!
Michael Gladis is best known for his work as Paul Kinsey on Mad Men. Other television credits include roles on The Good Wife, Law & Order: CI, Life, Hope and Faith, a recurring role on Third Watch, and Hack. He played Yevgeny Borzenkov in the classic submarine film K-19: The Widowmaker.
NY Theater credits include Fifth of July (Signature Theater), Baal (The Flea Theater), The Maine Play (Lion Theater), ‘Nami (Kirk Theater), St. Crispin’s Day (Rattlestick Thetaer), Dog Sees God (SOHO Playhouse), 12 Ophelias (BPAC), and many others, as well as a national tour of Romeo & Juliet and a stint at South Coast Rep. in Noah Haidle’s play Princess Marjorie.
Posted: February 12, 2010 at 12:43 am by Dan Fishbach
News: MAD MEN’S Rich Sommer Was In An Oak Tree Last Night!
Hit Television Show Mad Men’s Rich Sommer was in An Oak Tree last night! Who will be in tonight??
Rich Sommer stars as “Harry Crane” on AMC’s critically acclaimed show Mad Men. Set in 1960s New York, the provocative AMC drama follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising. Sommer portrays a married up-and-coming media buyer on the series, which recently finished its third season to record ratings. In the shocking season 3 finale, Sommer’s character left Sterling Cooper with Don Draper (Jon Hamm) to join Don’s newly formed fledgling ad agency. Along with his cast, Sommer won 2009’s Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Mad Men took home the Golden Globe in 2008, 2009 & 2010 for Best Drama, and scored the Best Drama Award at the 2008 & 2009 Emmys. Sommer made his feature film debut as Anne Hathaway’s drinking buddy ‘Doug’ in The Devil Wears Prada. The actor’s extensive stage credits include ‘Todd’ in “Far Away,” ‘Mike’ in “A Lie of the Mind,” and ‘William Gibbs’ in “Off the Map.” He has several national commercials to his credit and recently guest starred on NBC’s hit show The Office, Law & Order, and will appear as Betty’s love interest on ABC’s Ugly Betty in March ’10. A student, performer and teacher of improvisation, Sommer received his training and experience from The Brave New Workshop in his hometown of Minneapolis and at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York. He went on to study at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he received his Master’s Degree in Acting. It was at this university where he met his wife, Virginia. They currently reside in Los Angeles with their one year-old daughter, Beatrice.
Posted: February 11, 2010 at 4:26 pm by Dan Fishbach
News: EXTRA PERFORMANCE THIS SATURDAY AT 2pm!!!
Two shows this Saturday! One at 2:00 pm with a VERY SPECIAL GUEST STAR and one at 8pm!
Posted: February 11, 2010 at 4:20 pm by Dan Fishbach
Guest Actor Blog: KYLE SECOR
The gods are merciful! They sent us Tim Crouch and this unbelievable experience of a play. Friends who saw it are still reeling from the effect it’s had on them. It had been years since I had been on stage, but, thanks to Tim the underlying reason of why I became an actor was unearthed, and unveiled; the desire to live moment to moment, not-knowing, breath to breath, up on a tight wire, the feeling of the audience right up there with you. My word, what a night! Tim is such a deeply generous, supportive and talented man. So masterful with his art. I’m still hearing those lovely, gentle words he whispered in my ears – “You’re doing just great, Kyle – you’re doing beautifully.” Thank you Tim and the amazing team at the Odyssey, for a dream evening and peak experience.
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Kyle Secor performed in AN OAK TREE at The Odyssey Theatre on February 6th.
Kyle was born in the theatrical hotbed of Federal Way, Washington. Fleeing a series of engagements at both community college and dinner theatre’s he ventured to Los Angeles for the promise of equity waiver. In the 80’s and 90’s he appeared in a number of said equity waiver productions. He was then fortunate enough to be in the re-opening season of the Pasadena Playhouse in a production of Look Homeward, Angel, and several productions at LATC including Tony Richardson’s Anthony and Cleopatra. He studied at BADA (British Academy of Dramatic Arts) in Oxford.
Notable television includes seven seasons as Tim Bayliss in Homicide: Life on the Street (where he also directed), City of Angels, Philly, Veronica Mars, and First Gentleman Rod Callaway on Commander In Chief with Geena Davis. Recent guest star appearances include The Deep End, White Collar, Boston Legal and Women’s Murder Club Film: Heart of Dixie, Delusion, The Doctor, City Slickers, Sleeping with the Enemy, Late for Dinner, Drop Zone, Inherit the Wind and A Wrinkle in Time. He never returned to Federal Way, but currently resides in Los Angeles with his incredible wife, Kari, and two amazing daughters.
Posted: February 10, 2010 at 12:09 pm by Guest Actor
Guest Actor Blog: CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL MOORE
It’s taken me forever to write a blog (my first ever!) about my experience working with Tim on An Oak Tree. I think part of the reason I haven’t been able to write for so long is that I am still processing the amazing theatrical experience I shared with Tim on January 27th. I have spoken with several actors/friends who have done the show and when they were asked, “Weren’t you nervous going into this production?” Several of them responded, “No why would I be?” Well I must be the exception, because I was a nervous wreck. I joke about my drive to the Odyssey Theater that night; driving through intersections I was, like a hypnotist, willing other drivers to drive through the intersection. Calling Dan, Michele, Will and Tim to let them know I was in a car accident on my way to the theater and couldn’t do the show was I thought, my only way out of the fearful commitment /promise I had made. How prophetic that a car accident would play such a large role in the play. I think the best part of my performance that night was unseen by the audiences as I tried my best to appear nonchalant meeting with Tim and the production team prior to the show. To be told you would be doing a play that was “improvisation, but not improvised with words…everything is scripted,” had me confused, excited and anxious. Adding to my unease going in was I knew that the house would be filled with my friends, (a couple of whom had performed in the play previously in the run) my high school theater students and their parents (both current and past,) colleagues from the school where I teach (Harvard-Westlake) members of the professional class I run, and my dear friends who were a part of the production team and of course Tim himself, whose stories I wanted so much to help share with our audience. I fed off the audience’s energy, support and love. When Tim introduced the play and then called me onto the stage, my nerves took a side-step and I just wanted to be a part of the world and the characters that Tim was creating for us all. And I do mean us all because I simply followed Tim’s incredibly gentle and oh-so-safe lead in this fantastic adventure. As a teacher it was incredible to really put what I preach day in and day out to my young theater students to the test. Stay completely open, be honest, be true, make your scene partner and the stories you are telling more important than your own self-interest and most important of all be an “active listener.”
I should have waited even longer to write this “blog” because I still cannot, hell, I may never be able to express just how incredible my experience being a small part of the An Oak Tree has meant to me. It was a magical event. It was a whirlwind of emotions and awe that I only wish every actor and student of theater could experience. I feel blessed. Thank you Tim for letting me share the stage with you. Thank you Dan, Michele, Will and Marc for thinking of me and affording me this wonderful opportunity.
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Christopher Michael Moore performed in AN OAK TREE on January 27th, 2010.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL MOORE is an actor who has appeared in numerous theater productions in Washington DC, Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. He holds degrees from Northwestern University’s School of Speech. Christopher was a member of the acting companies and served on the artistic board of both The Organic Theater in Chicago and Theatre Forty in Beverly Hills. He has appeared on television and film in over sixty productions and in over 125 national commercials. Christopher is proud to call himself a teacher. For the past fourteen years he has taught theater and currently serves as the Director of The Theater Program at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood.
Posted: February 10, 2010 at 12:03 pm by Guest Actor
Guest Actor Blog: ALANIS MORISSETTE
Working with tim in an oak tree was like jumping into the sweetest unknown with a helmet on as tim exudes certainty, brilliance and trustworthiness at once. Any objectivity of this one of a kind unusual piece eluded me until I stepped away and caught my breath, upon which time I was bowled over by what had just happened. This lack of objectivity and required combination of both courage and surrender made the experience both exhilarating and transfixing. The nature of my having been in the dark before it happens (and it does exactly that, it “just happens”) made for the experience of watching the play AND participating in it at the same time. Being in tim’s presence is like being in the presence of a timeless and enigmatic playwright who is committed to urgent authentic immediacy. He artfully mixes profound humanity and comedy, while guiding you through choice-makings that require full throttle presence and bravery. I’ve never been a part of anything like it.
—alanis morissette
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Alanis Morissette performed in AN OAK TREE at The Odyssey Theatre on January 31st, 2010.
Alanis Morissette has released a series of groundbreaking albums that have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. She has won twelve Juno Awards, seven Grammy Awards, and has also received an additional fourteen Grammy nominations. Morissette’s international debut album, “Jagged Little Pill” remains the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the U.S. and is the highest selling debut album worldwide in music history. Morissette’s subsequent five studio albums have all included a series of chart-topping singles. Her most recent release, Flavors of Entanglement, was released in June 2008 and debuted in the U.S. in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart. Achieving success as a recording and performing artist, Morissette has also lent her talents to other forums. Her television acting work includes roles on Weeds, Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, along with a three-episode arc on Nip/Tuck.
Posted: February 10, 2010 at 8:42 am by Guest Actor
Guest Actor Blog: PETER GALLAGHER
Thank you, Tim Crouch. I was happy to be there from the first moment I sat down and realized that I hadn’t been on stage in a black box theatre in a very, very long time. I was instantly reminded of the thrill and terror of not knowing what you’re going to do but also aware of all the promise that magic space can hold if you stumble along in the right direction. Tim provided that direction. I felt like I was part of French painting made up of little dots – like those by Georges Seurat. I was busy making little spots of color where directed and discovered what the bigger picture was about around the same time the audience did. We were surprised! Which is a rare and wonderful gift. So, thanks for that!
Cheers,
Peter Gallagher
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Peter Gallagher performed in AN OAK TREE at The Odyssey Theatre on Weds., January 6th
Broadway: The Country Girl, Noises Off, Guys and Dolls, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Tony Award Nomination), The Real Thing (Clarence Derwent Award), The Corn Is Green (Theatre World Award), A Doll’s Life, Grease, Hair. Regional and Off- Broadway Theatre include: The Exonerated, Another Country and Pal Joey. Films include: sex, lies & videotape, American Beauty (SAG Award), The Player, Short Cuts (Golden Globe), The Idolmaker, While You Were Sleeping, The Underneath, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Dreamchild, Adam and many others. Upcoming films: Betty Ann Waters and Burlesque. Television work includes: Californication, The OC, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, The Murder of Mary Phagan and many others as well as the upcoming season of Rescue Me. Recordings include: 7 Days in Memphis, Pal Joey and Guys and Dolls. Mr. Gallagher has worked extensively with directors Mike Nichols, Robert Altman and Steven Soderbergh and also
with Jonathan Miller, Nicholas Hytner, Hal Prince and many others.
Posted: February 8, 2010 at 5:15 pm by Guest Actor
Guest Actor Blog: KATHLEEN EARLY
Dear Oak Tree Blog,
I am writing to share with you what a singularly unique and sparkling experience it was working with your creator, Tim Crouch. As actors, we strive to find moments in which we can connect with another person, either on stage or within the audience. Tim has created a piece of theatre which is centered around a constant re-connecting. Like two pieces of flint striking together to make the spark that starts the fire that burns and generates energy, Tim guided me through a vacuum, a text that pulls you in and spins you around, and wherein the energy bounces off everything in the room to create focused moments of flashing light, revealing things about the characters and about us as people. It’s thrills me to think of everything I missed in the text, of which when I go watch someone else step into it for the first time, I know bit and pieces will fly out at me in bright revelatory flashes. I can’t wait to see this ever-changing and morphing piece of theatre, that by it’s very BEING a piece of theatre is never the same twice, but by being THIS piece of theatre is even MORE stretched and morphed by each new performer Tim brings onstage with him.
As with the end of each acting job, the days after found me a bit depressed, sad not to be returning to the theatre that night. As actors, we are perhaps most alive when we are onstage, with our love, the theatre. And then I thought of the quote, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” And truly, the experience was transforming and challenging and thrilling… how could I NOT be the better for it, even as it’s ephemeral nature insists we let go… again.
Thank you for the giving and taking. Thank you for making theatre NEW.
Fondly, Kathleen Early
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Kathleen Early was in AN OAK TREE at The Odyssey Theatre on February 4th
KATHLEEN EARLY has loved the theatre since she got on stage at age 6 to play Gretel in The Sound of Music at the local high school in Euless, TX. Since then she’s “branched out” and is excited to be a part of An Oak Tree. She was most recently seen getting a hand massage and biopsying Izzy’s mole as dermatologist Dr. Dasiy Pepman on Grey’s Anatomy. Broadway: National Tour of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Kathleen Turner & Bill Irwin (The Kennedy Center, Ahmanson), Steel Magnolias (Shelby U/S). Off-Broadway: Treason (Perry Street), Outward Bound (Keen Co.), Peg O’My Heart (Irish Rep), Edward Albee’s The Play About the Baby (Paul Green Foundation Award) with Marian Seldes & Brian Murray (Century Center). Regional: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Neighborhood Playhouse), The Blue Room (Hangar Theatre), Broadway (Pittsburgh Public), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theatre & Hartford Stage), Pera Palas (Long Wharf), Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Film & TV: The Assistants, Across the Universe, Trip in a Summer Dress (Beverly Hills Film Festival Outstanding Female Performance Award), Medium, Guiding Light, All My Children. Next up: Look for her as Nurse Kathy on the upcoming new Jerry Bruckheimer series Miami Medical on CBS.
Posted: February 8, 2010 at 5:10 pm by Guest Actor
Guest Actor Blog: ALAN CUMMING (video blog)
Posted: February 8, 2010 at 1:43 pm by Guest Actor
Tim’s Blog: #10 (Penultimate Blog)
This is a long one. Make yourselves a cup of coffee.
Courtesy of Jason Alexander, who performed magic both during and after his performance in An Oak Tree, we get a guest invitation to the Magic Castle. http://www.magiccastle.com/ For Jason, the Magic Castle has been a dream place since he was a teenager and it’s not hard to see why. A creaking Gothic interior that looks like it hasn’t changed for fifty years – walls crammed with old posters, caricatures of magicians, portraits whose eyes follow you as you walk past. Like a Hogwarts sitting on Franklin Avenue in modern day LA – an anachronism. We meet up at 6.30pm – me and Producer Dan, the mighty Dave Bushnell, my friend Quincy, Jesse who did the show with me in January, my stage manager Rachel and my friend Brian’s girlfriend, Dana. Dan brings me a tie to wear. You’re not allowed in without a jacket and tie. We all look so smart. We dine like grown-ups and spend the evening in various states of disbelief in what we see – from cheesy illusionists to a magic piano who plays anything you ask it to – even a rendition of Radiohead’s Karma Police. The highlight is sitting at a low table with a regular member of the Magic Castle, Howard, who slowly and effortlessly blows our minds with impossible close-up card tricks. We leave at midnight, reeling into the night air. Thanks, Jason.
Also this week a visit to The Museum of Jurassic Technology http://www.mjt.org/
What amazes me is how few of my LA friends have ever been there. I go at the insistence of the mighty Dave Bushnell, producer Michele’s partner. I go with Dave and with two previous second actors from the play, Stacie Chaiken and the previous night’s Kathleen Early. The museum has a unprepossessing front – like a terrace house on a bustling Venice Boulevard. Made all the more unprepossessing by the teeming rain. Entry is $5 and $5 takes you into a surrealist’s dream world you will never forget. I could spend the whole blog describing it. The whole place is an art work, although every exhibit is genuine. It takes you into a world of counter-knowledge and understanding, but does so with an aesthetic rigour and beauty that is hard to describe. Here are some of the names of the collections:
Tell the Bees: Belief, Knowledge and Hypersymbolic Cognition
Lives of Perfect Creatures: Dogs of the Soviet Space Program
Rotten Luck: The Decaying Dice of Ricky Jay
Athanasius Kircher: The World is Bound With Secret Knots
If you live in LA and haven’t been to this place yet, SHAME ON YOU. Thanks Dave Bushnell.
Before Christmas I get an email enquiry from my producers – how would I feel about a transgender actress performing in An Oak Tree with me. Sure, I say. This play is about people. As long as the second actor is a person – and an actor – then I don’t need to know anything else about them. The play feels cleanest when I don’t know who’s doing the show with me until ten minutes before I meet them. This Wednesday, then, enter Alexandra Billings! http://www.alexandrabillings.com/
Alex is a phenomenon. I don’t know the history of her gender and I don’t need to know. Here is a beautiful woman – a shock of strong hair, flashing smile, clear eyes. A force of nature and will. She is like a giddy girl – over-excited at the prospect of doing the play with me. We talk beforehand and her face lights up. This, she says, is what she’s been dreaming of. She is a Viewpoints Associate at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and teaches Viewpoints in LA. (I have never heard of Viewpoints before – and my stage manager has lent me a book by Ann Bogart and Tina Landau which I am working through.) In An Oak Tree, Alex is a man again, a grieving father with a bloodshot eye. She passes through the play in flashes – releasing and holding, releasing and holding. A powerful energy able to be many things, bringing with her her own story of transformation that locks into the heart of the play. When we exit the stage she bounces round the green room like Tigger. We both bounce.
If this performance were an exhibit in the Museum of Jurassic technology, perhaps it would be titled: Anthropolymorphic Alex: Resisting logio-deduction in Gender Ascriptions.
Thursday is the ineffable Kathleen Early from Dallas Fort Worth. Kathleen was slated to do An Oak Tree in New York back in 2006/07, but she got bumped. She’s been waiting for three years! So here she is at last, and she was worth the wait. Slight, beautiful, with a steady gaze and a strong actor’s instinct. This is not a showy performance. She is held, internal, sensitive to text and moment. At one point a tear falls onto the black Odyssey Stage and takes the rest of the play to evaporate. In my mind this wet mark becomes like a tumulus, a sacred site; I move around it, it becomes a marker for the play. In the San Francisco Saloon I meet Kathleen’s agent, Hannah. Hannah has been responsible for bringing a number of actors into the play. There’s a lovely sense of closure to this evening. Kathleen can now read the script!
In the Museum of Jurassic Technology this performance could have been titled: Sacred Scenographic Sites: The Topography of Tears.
(After Kathleen’s show there’s a note left for me. An actor called Jay O Sanders (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0761587/) has come to the see the Noel Coward play in the other theatre at the Odyssey. He’s visiting from New York – to promote the Mel Gibson movie Edge of Darkness. Jay did An Oak Tree in 2006 and he was magnificent. His wife, Maryann Plunkett, also did the show and had an equally good time. They are a wonderful couple and they looked after me a bit in New York. Jay knows the director of the Noel Coward at the Odyssey but he had no idea that An Oak Tree was playing there as well. He leaves me a note with his cell phone number. I leave him a voicemail and he arrives at the San Francisco Saloon once the Noel Coward is down. It is a joy to see him again. I feel a little guilty towards Kathleen as Jay dives in to the evening with an unstoppable force! He and I talk at length about Macbeth – a role we have both played, a play that we both love. Jay has a production in his head that sounds definitive – I hope he gets to direct it one day. Jay and I renew our affection for each other and vow to keep in touch.)
Friday night is Carolyn Seymour. Carolyn left the UK for LA thirty years ago. It’s so lovely to hear an English accent again and delightful to hear the way it’s been modified by those 30 years. This woman has lived! Her IMDB entry has 100 credits stretching back to 1970. I’d rather just sit and chat with her, but we have a play to do. She is effortless in performance – strong, fearless, fine-tuned. At times, she finds a new voice for the character she’s been given – a rooted English voice in balance with mine – and at times she just plays it straight. It’s lovely to see her navigate the stage. She’s a natural. Work is sometimes hard to come by for a woman of a certain age – and Carolyn should be working all the time. Her ex-husband and good friend, the film director Peter Medak, is in the audience, as are her two children. I think they have a good time.
Saturday matinee is Floyd van Buskirk. Floyd is a member of the Shakespeare Unscripted group I am so in awe of. In the audience is the cream of LA improvisers, including Dan O’Connor who did An Oak Tree on January 14th and Mike McShane, who I know from the UK’s Who’s Line is it Anyway? Floyd is perfect – he has that improviser’s inner presence. His mind is trained to be absolutely here and now – whilst at the same time processing beyond the moment. He is dignified and light and felt in performance. The play sings. Afterwards, we decamp to Louise’s Italian restaurant on Pico Boulevard. My producer, Michele, is overjoyed. She is a stalwart of Impro Theater. Her ‘family’ were in this afternoon, and her family loved it.
Saturday night is Kyle Secor. Kyle arrives early with his wife. He is relaxed and charming and tall! 6’ 4”. In the play I take his character’s height down to 5’ 9” – to remove any literal element to his performance… It is as though the play has been written for Kyle. He has the most open presence, like a Swami. But a Swami with all the technical understanding of a hugely experienced actor! I feel like this tall, open man is looking after me! His instinct places him into the centre of the story, his eyes reddening, his voice struggling. After the show he and his wife set off to relieve their baby-sitter and me and my producers Dan and Michele, sit in the San Francisco bar and toast to a very good day in the life of the show.
Sunday matinee is Alan Cumming. At the time he’s due at the theatre, we get a phone call saying he’s at La Cienaga Boulevard and 19th – 20 minutes away. He scrolled down on his Blackberry and missed a key turning on his instructions… He arrives like a breath of fresh air. Loose, relaxed, engaged and with painted black fingernails from the film he is currently shooting. He and I have known each other since I took my first play, My Arm, to New York in 2003. He saw my play ENGLAND at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007. What I’d like to do is just sit and catch-up, but there is some work to do. We go through into the theatre and I talk about the play – about a request for openness, an invitation to join with me in the telling of a story. Alan gets it immediately and continues to get it throughout. It’s lovely to hear his Scottish voice engage with the language of the play. It becomes a poetry. He does something that no other actor has ever done in the show – when I go to get him a drink of water and leave him alone, he re-engages with the tree at the centre of the story. When I come back onto the stage I feel like I’ve interrupted a very private and important moment. He has taken the offer of the play and made it his own. Afterwards, the lobby is crowded. We head for the San Francisco Saloon and, amid the chaos that is Super Bowl, we unpick the experience and catch up on each other’s lives. And that’s it. The end of week five. One week left. Book your tickets.
Posted: February 8, 2010 at 10:40 am by Tim Crouch
News: Actor ALAN CUMMING was in An Oak Tree today!
Tony-Award Winning Actor ALAN CUMMING was in An Oak Tree today at The Odyssey Theatre. Who will be in next? Come find out!! One week left!
Alan Cumming trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He went on to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre where he won an Olivier award for his performance in Dario Fo’s Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. He was nominated for further Olivier Awards for La Bete and Cabaret, and his sensational Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse in London won him a TMA Best Actor award and a Shakespeare Globe nomination. His introduction to American audiences came with Circle of Friends, followed shortly by Goldeneye and Emma and several other films. In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Alan was instantly embraced by New York City, and heralded for his stunning performance as the EmCee. He won The Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Theatre World, New York Press, FANY and New York Public Advocate’s awards for his work. He has continued to work on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera opposite Cyndi Lauper, Design For Living and off -Broadway in Jean Genet’s Elle (which he also adapted) and The Seagull, opposite Dianne Wiest. On television he appeared in Sex and the City, Annie, Frasier, Third Rock From The Sun, The L Word, Reefer Madness and most recently in Sci-Fi Channel’s record-breaking Tin Man. In 2009 Alan made his concert debut as part of the Lincoln Center American Songbook series. The resulting show I Bought A Blue Car Today, went on to play at venues across the globe including the Sydney Opera House, London’s West End (for which he has just been nominated for Best Solo Performance in the Whatsonstage.com awards) and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. An album of the same name was released to great acclaim. In 2010 Alan will be back on Broadway in Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark (directed by Julie Taymor, music by Bono and the Edge) and will be seen in the movie The Tempest, opposite Helen Mirren.
Posted: February 7, 2010 at 1:14 am by Dan Fishbach
Guest Actor Blog: LAURYN CANTU
I did An Oak Tree just a few weeks into my final semester of conservatory-style Acting training, and it couldn’t have been timed better. Training has pushed me to my limits – it has destroyed and recreated my approach to the craft several times over. I always thought that by my fourth year I would feel completely prepared to go out into the world, but I found that in fact I had never felt further away from what I love to do. I felt like I had acquired every skill I came for, but somehow I lost the only thing I came in with – courage.
Tim changed that for me. The opportunity to do this play was a chance to face my biggest fear. As soon as I signed on, I had a thought that has become all too familiar to me, “What if it’s not good?” And for the first time it really occurred to me what an enormous waste of energy that thought is, and how much it costs me to have it. From that point on, the weirdest thing happened, it wasn’t the nerves that killed me, it was my curiosity in the story. That was the most amazing part for me, really. It was just how that shift of attention drove me, drove the show right into lights down.
I could reiterate everything the other actors on this page have to say about the experience. It’s liberating, beautiful, candid, poignantly written. I can’t get over how lucky I was to try my hand at it, really. Tim was my favorite kind of playmate -energetic and open, generous and committed; his script was my favorite kind of playground – the fun parts and the dangerous parts almost indistinguishable because it moves so fast there is no time to think or fear.
The paycheck I got for An Oak Tree was my first paycheck as a professional actor, and that check seems more a diploma to me than any piece of paper from my school, because it came from a project that gave me the secret ingredient to the completion of my training.
So thank you Tim, Dan, everyone at the Odyssey, it was really the best day of my life, and an experience that I will always carry with me.
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LAURYN CANTU performed in An Oak Tree at The Odyssey Theatre on Sunday, January 31st, 2010.
Lauryn Cantu is currently finishing up her fourth year in USC’s BFA Acting Program. Roles at USC include Diana in “Diana of Dobson’s”, Elizabeth in “Pride and Prejudice”, Alexa in “As Bees in Honey Drown”, Candy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and Hecuba in “The Trojan Women 2.0”. Today she is grateful and thrilled to participate in such a wonderfully unique piece of theatre.
Posted: February 5, 2010 at 3:35 pm by Guest Actor