Erik Jensen

Like acting/being in free fall. Performers TALK the TALK about "risking" in the theater. Performers talk about "acting without a net"... but this play... this experience forced me to WALK... (or at very least make me realize I may have spent a lifetime crawling). I imagine the experience of being in this show, much less seeing it, must be what it's like to take a handful of mushrooms and run off screaming naked into the woods of northern Canada, only to emerge days later, unshaven, mumbling something about alien abduction, sporting only a strategically placed I-pod that loops "White Rabbit" over and over again. More please.

Kathyrn Grody

its 230 in the morning and i shouldnt be writing this when im beyond bleary eyed and brained but i just finished having yet another of many continuous conversations with my 20 yr old son who saw "my" oak tree tonight....and he said mom, the audience feels all that the second actor feels, we see you as the old man, we feel everything youre feeling because were experiencing everything you are at the same time...i wonder, he said, if this will be a model for so many new plays??! i am still not sure what happened...i loved lying on the floor i loved speaking thru the phones i didnt like playing the piano but what i "liked" or didnt is so unimportant because the being part, the being truly naked while feeling anything is what is so unusual and extraordinairy about this eveing...and i miss it already and want it back and dont want to do it again couldnt do it again and its so frigging zen...the being alive in each moment and letting each one go with the breathing in and the breathing out or as tim says the locking and unlocking and of course several friends thought it started at 8 and missed it and i will always have a little bit of grief about not being able to share this experience with them because unlike other "performances" this wasnt one, this was as close to flying as i will get in my particular lifetime tho i think i just might take a bit of wing with me for any other piece i ever do on stage i just might do an oak tree mantra to remind me of the power of simply being even trying to just be...and i loved that my sons are still talking about it (tho the younger said it was the first time in his life he wanted really wanted to be up there doing whatever that was) so tim if after all these years of relief that our two boys from two theatricals managed to forge a different and perhaps less challangeing path UNTIL tonight, well , i wont hold it against you because passion and an open heart are not the worst things to be involved with in a daily livlihood...which is what tonight remindedme of....my friends who came, among them very accomplished folk with jobs that have clear margins and hours and with whom i sometimes feel as ephemeral as dust when comparing our daily tasks (performer vs doctors, vice presidents of big companies, publicists, lawyers) spoke of what they saw as foreign and as thrilling to them as flying, literal flying and that they couldnt conceive of doing something as brave or bold or strange and it reminded me of the magic and power of the theatre and it reminded me how much i love being part of that, all of it including my insane apology to tim as soon as we got off stage for missing a cue...! blessings on you all for this magical notion thank you thank you kathryn

Alysia Reiner

How to describe such a unique once in a lifetime profoundly EXPERIENTIAL journey?
I could not blog till I experienced seeing it myself.
I had to see that it truly works no matter what is given.
It is skydive acting.
It is a trustfall on stage.
It is ultimate freedom thru rigid structure.
It is true magical realism - magic and real.
It is a challenge to the actor - how much can you let go of logic, shed your knowing, for the alchemy of the moment.
It is a gift that Tim Crouch has created for an actor to share, and would never work without his generous soul.
And yes like everyone else I only wish I could have the experience again.
GO DO IT OR SEE IT.

Michael Cerveris

If, as they say, acting is reacting, then I don't suppose there is a more genuine acting experience than being the guest Father in Tim's play.

I agree with everyone who finds it an unique and exhillerating experience, but without any of the attendant breathlessness or mild panic that might sometimes entail. It just quickly becomes the most natural thing in the world. Perhaps because I was relieved of the responsibility to "invent", I got the chance to do what I've presumably done my whole life: just sort of be there and see what happens. And that, of course, is the single hardest thing to do on stage most of the time. In a world where even real life gets performed on reality TV, there's something really subversive and valuable in what Tim opens with his work--for the audience and the other actor. Friends who saw the show said they felt almost as if they were personally and simultaneously experiencing what was happening to me on stage.

I've always felt my favorite part of being an actor was rehearsal with all its messiness, clumsiness, surprise and discovery. This was sort of the best rehearsal of my life and some of the best life I've had on stage.

also, I'm going to try to get Tim to radio all my lines into my ear from now on.

Craig Wroe

Strange - last night after the show when we went for a drink, what had just happened was a bit of a blur: a rollercoaster ride where everything goes by in a flash. I couldn't process all of it, just knew that I experienced something remarkable. I had no idea the impact of what happened until this morning. I have had probably the most restless night of sleep of my life. Had nightmares, vivid dreams, spectral images flashing through my head all night - and they were all An Oak Tree related/inspired. Some were harrowing, some comforting. It was like the play unlocked the door of this untapped, undiscovered country in my brain and suddenly all this stuff came rushing out. It was scary but fascinating - at one point after about the tenth time that I'd woken with a start, I actually thought I would never be able to have a night of uninterrupted sleep again - I'd been jarred awake that many times. Each time that I woke up, I ran several moments of what had happened last night on stage in my head like it was a tape - relived vividly whole sequences (and of course thought a few times "I could have, should have done that moment better!") I feel like it has affected something very deep and profound in me - tapped something I didn't know was there - some artistic chamber that lay dormant and then suddenly, like I said, the door was opened. As harrowing as last night in bed was, it feels to me like that door needed to be opened and I need to keep it open. What an experience. What a gift. Thanks.

Ray Dooley

I’ve never been hang gliding, but I’m guessing that playing An Oak Tree must be very much like it. You prepare, which in this case is the time before the show with Tim, and then you step over the edge. After that you are held up by the play, riding the updrafts and coasting down, until you land an hour later, astonished and very glad you’ve taken the ride.

Any actor who plays the role has to be struck by the purity of the experience. Good acting is about receiving in the moment and then reacting, and in the case of An Oak Tree there is only the moment. You proceed with utter confidence, absolutely unsure about what will happen next, and then you look out, and there are people wiping tears from their eyes.

My only regret is that I can’t have Tim around all the time, saying, “You’re doing brilliantly….”

Maja Wampuszyc

I wish that being in An Oak Tree was something every human could experience. Why? I remember this beautiful feeling of putting myself in the hands of another human – in the hands of a theater full of humans in the service of a new expression. Akin to participating in an exhilarating jazz jam session. A kind of metaphor for love. The thought flashed through my mind that I was like a newborn hungrily absorbing the world for the first time. We are so taught and encouraged to control our realities. An Oak Tree was a reminder that life can be simple and does not have to be so forced. Too much thinking is exhausting and can keep us from fully experiencing our world and the people around us. Too much control sacrifices the discovery of content for form. Discovery is the joy of life and by extension art. Most importantly being a part of An Oak Tree was fun. An absolute BLAST! As Tim guided me off stage I knew in my gut that something inside of me would never be the same. It is a most welcomed change. I dedicate this experience to my sister Ewa.