I AM A TREE Opens at St. Clement’s Tonight, 5/25

After premiering in a sold out, critically acclaimed run in Los Angeles, I AM A TREE, written and performed by Dulcy Rogers and directed by Allan Miller, arrives in NY, produced by United Pies, Inc, in association with The Elephant Theatre (Los Angeles). I AM A TREE begins performances tonight, May 25 for a limited engagement through Saturday, June 30. Press opening is Thursday, May 31 at 8 PM.  The performance schedule is Thursday - Saturday at 8:00 PM; and Sunday at 3:00 PM, with added performances on Tuesday, May 29 and Wednesday, May 30 at 8 PM. Performances are at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46th St., between 9th and 10th Avenues). Tickets are $40. To purchase tickets, call OvationTix at 212-352-3101 or visit www.theatermania.com.

Thirty-something year old Claire discovers she has family members she never knew existed. Desperate to find out about the mother she barely knew, she embarks on an odyssey to find these relatives, hoping they will give her the answers she needs. But what she ends up finding is three wildly eccentric aunts, who have three very different perspectives on what her mother was like, what actually happened to her and why.

Lead by a tour-de-force performance by Dulcy Rogers, these “lushly off-beat and ferociously intelligent characters” (LA Times) inhabit a bittersweet and hilarious look at how various branches of a family tree intertwine.

The design team includes Neil Patel (set deign) and Jason Crystal (sound design). The production stage manager is Christine Lemme.

Dulcy Rogers (writer/performer) began her acting career in New York and regional theaters, playing many varied parts such as Sarah in the Substance of Fire at Seattle Rep, Anna in the first regional production of Burn This at The Westport Country Playhouse, Nellie in The Fox at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Janice in John Patrick Shanley’s The Italian/ American Reconciliation at the Boston Post Road Stage Company, Love’s Suicide at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, Waterland at Ubu Rep in New York,  Miss Julie in Miss Julie in repertory with Helena in A Midsummer’s Night Dream at A Stage Above Repertory in NY and in Glass Menagerie as, without a doubt, the tallest Laura in the history of the theater, at Bristol Riverside Theatre in PA.  In addition to that, she had the chance to perform in a couple of new, short-lived plays Off Broadway that starred such actors as Charles Cioffi and Professor Irwin Corey.  A writer as well, Dulcy wrote and performed a one-woman show about Ruth Draper called Ruth Draper and Her Cast of Characters, which began its life at Yale.  After moving to Los Angeles, Dulcy did many guest star spots on such shows as Frasier, Wings, The Drew Carey Show, The Savages, Pursuit Of Happiness, and others.  She was an on camera regular and a writer for The Caroline Rhea Show shot in Los Angeles and continued on as both a performer and writer when the show was moved to New York City and became Caroline and Friends.  Dulcy has been in such movies as Father of The Bride part II with Steve Martin, Rude Awakenings with Eric Roberts, Certain Guys and Almost Home, which was a short film also written by her that was seen in many film festivals around the country. Dulcy has had two development deals to create shows, the first a sitcom for herself at the WB, and then at CBS for her husband, the incredibly funny Diedrich Bader.

Allan Miller (director) is an actor, director, teacher and writer. He was artistic director of the Back Alley Theatre for ten years, where he received the LADCC Margaret Hartford Award for Distinguished Achievement. At the Back Alley he directed more than a dozen productions, including Are You Now or Have You Ever Been… and The Fox, for which he received a LADCC award for direction. Other directing credits include The Fox Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre and at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Camping with Henry and Tom at the Westport Playhouse, and A Perfect Ganesh by Terence McNally (nominated for eight LADCC awards), Stumps by Mark Medoff, A Map of the World by David Hare, and The Gigli Concert by Tom Murphy, all at the Odyssey Theatre. He directed The Deal by Matt Witten at International City Theatre, and most recently, Taking Steps, by Alan Ayckbourn, First Monday in October, First Love by Charles Mee, and This Lime Tree Bower at the Odyssey and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee for The Actors Studio West. Mr. Miller has acted in over two hundred films and teleVision Productions, and dozens of plays.  He most recently co-starred in Broadway Bound by Neil Simon and Brooklyn Boy by Donald Margulies on Broadway, and in The Sunshine Boys in Los Angeles. He wrote the play The Fox, based on the novella by D. H. Lawrence, which has been produced by theaters around the US and internationally, and is published by Samuel French in an acting edition, Doubleday for the Fireside Book Club, and the California Arts Council's West Coast Plays. A sought-after teacher, his well-known students include Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Geraldine Page, Lily Tomlin, Peter Boyle, Rue McClanahan, Dianne Wiest, and Bruce Davison. His work as a master teacher is featured in the compilation book, A New Generation of Acting Teachers, published by Penguin. He is the author of “A Passion for Acting: Exploring the Creative Process” now in its third printing, and a DVD “The Craft of Acting: Auditioning.”

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