To Tree presented by The Brown Paper Box Co. at Heartland Studio Theatre

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Playwright Aaron Golden struggles to keep this necessarily static situation moving forward, but too often writes around its periphery rather explore its center. And his deployment of an existential metaphor to illustrate Julian's purely psychological crisis feels overwrought. Still, there's ample food for thought in M. William Panek's 85-minute production for the Brown Paper Box Company, thanks in large part to carefully shaded performances by Lance Newton and Christopher Hart."

Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended

"... We get some revelations about Julian’s motivations that are entirely too pedestrian to fit with the show’s fable-like tone. Newton does a great job making a character who could easily come off as a mad prophet seem like a genuine person. Hart is also very good as the sympathetic skeptic. Golden’s script shows flashes of elegance but ultimately feels like an intriguing first draft."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"... Golden’s script tilts from frat-house banter to newspaperman patter to moral truisms, sometimes pausing—to electrifying but unresolved effect—on class and racial conflicts. Of course, Hart’s cajoling and Newton’s laser-cut disdain would come to nothing if the titular tree failed to persuade. Set designer Ian James Anthony creates a miracle onstage whose rough, poetic design lends redwood rings of truth to a fraught and evolving friendship."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"... The strong, articulate and disciplined performance by Lance Newton is impressive. Christopher Hart’s nice guy and truthful take on friendship is winning. The work of these two covers for the lack of details as to how Julian can actually be transformed into a tree and Peter’s finding a cure if Julian decides to revert back. To Tree is a sly little work that creeps up and stimulates us into reexamining our meaning of life and what the essence of being human is about. How guilt can consume our lives leading us to drastic actions to ‘make things right.’ Julian sure has a unique take on morality. This moving work is worth seeing as it begs further discussion on the ride home."

Around The Town Chicago - Recommended

"...While the premise sounds strange, even insane, as the story unforlds, we bear witness to mush more than a crazy man who’s best friend tries to reason with him about this weird concept. The two actors, Lance Newton, who for most of the play stands in one spot and Christopher Hart, his college buddy are both writers, one in Chicago and the other in a small Indiana town. Julian (Newton) has decided that he can no longer live with what he caused and through “self animation” will become a tree. He has advised a local gardener to call his old college roommate Peter to come and write the story."

Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended

"... This is an absurdist play, one that relies almost entirely on dialogue, and is sparsely staged. Peter becomes more likeable and interesting as the play unfolds, and the story becomes more believable the further we travel into it. I wondered at Newton’s ability to stand in one place for 80 minutes; by the end he is visibly swaying, his eyes entirely closed. It’s like watching someone pay penance by wearing a hair shirt, which is essentially what Julian has chosen to do. This piece is thought provoking, absurd, and focuses largely the inner life of one man. I considered the fact that I, like Julian, had been sitting in one place the entire time. Guilt and redemption are represented through the metaphor of Julian’s transformation, leaving one to ponder the meaning of it all."