...AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY.
Honestly. The Broadway production.
I fell on my ass. But, that's okay. I'm pissed -- I'm more bummed out, really.
It's okay because I'm always learning from my auditions. Especially in the last year or so.
I went in with a piece that I was/am passionate about. It just fizzled out. I'm a horrible auditioner but that's not an excuse because there have been auditions in which I've knocked it out of the room and then back again.
I'm examining what happened today. Not asking that dreaded question, "Why"? but more, "What can I do for the NEXT time. The next lucky/blessed opportunity?"
The past few weeks I've had 4 auditions (2 that were very good and 1 that was alright, and 1 that bombed -- HA!), and 2 callbacks (both of which were very good). What I noticed was the 2 that were good and bombed...were for Broadway shows (THE SEAGULL and AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY).
Interesting...
So, let me leave you with 2 scenes from the show (I found this video on Steppenwolf's myspace page).
Enjoy. Really. I always do.
I can't WAIT for the NEXT Rejection!!! It's another step on that ladder (and it's a LONG 'n' HIGH one). All it's doing is bringing me a little closer each time.
Bring it.
Showing posts with label steppenwolf theatre company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steppenwolf theatre company. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY to Play London's National in Fall 2008
from: http://www.playbill.com
By Mark Shenton
June 20, 2008
It has been confirmed that the National Theatre will present the London debut of this year's Tony Award-winning Best Play, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County.
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production will begin an eight-week run in the Lyttelton Theatre in late November (with precise dates still to be confirmed). Most of the original Broadway cast will likely reprise their performances in London.
Steppenwolf previously appeared at the National Theatre in 1989, when they transferred their stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath from Chicago to London, ahead of a Broadway run the year after.
Playwright Letts won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the three-and-a-half-hour dark ensemble comedy-drama about three generations of an Oklahoma clan. The Broadway production also picked up five 2008 Tony Awards, including one for Best Play.
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County "tells the explosively funny tale of the Weston clan, triggered by the recent disappearance of the family patriarch."
The designers are Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann G. Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).
In New York August plays the Music Box Theatre.
Currently reading: Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard by Isak Dinesen
By Mark Shenton
June 20, 2008
It has been confirmed that the National Theatre will present the London debut of this year's Tony Award-winning Best Play, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County.The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production will begin an eight-week run in the Lyttelton Theatre in late November (with precise dates still to be confirmed). Most of the original Broadway cast will likely reprise their performances in London.
Steppenwolf previously appeared at the National Theatre in 1989, when they transferred their stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath from Chicago to London, ahead of a Broadway run the year after.
Playwright Letts won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the three-and-a-half-hour dark ensemble comedy-drama about three generations of an Oklahoma clan. The Broadway production also picked up five 2008 Tony Awards, including one for Best Play.
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County "tells the explosively funny tale of the Weston clan, triggered by the recent disappearance of the family patriarch."
The designers are Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann G. Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).
In New York August plays the Music Box Theatre.
Currently reading: Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard by Isak Dinesen
Monday, April 7, 2008
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama
I had NO DOUBT that Tracy Letts would get the Pulitzer. YAY!!! Sure you can go and buy a copy of the play and read it. But, but, BUT (!) you should really go and SEE it at the Imperial till the 20th, and then starting on the 29th right next door at the Music Box. Go go GO----------------------dammit!
***
Here is the article from Playbill.com:
By Andrew Gans
and Robert Simonson, Adam Hetrick
07 Apr 2008
Tracy Letts' dysfunctional-family drama August: Osage County, which opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre in December 2007, has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalists were Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang and Dying City by Christopher Shinn.
The 2008 Letters, Drama and Music jurors included Peter Marks (drama critic for The Washington Post), David Lindsay-Abaire (the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner), Jeremy McCarter (drama critic for New York Magazine), Charles McNulty (drama critic for the L.A. Times) and Lisa Portes (head of MFA Directing and artistic director of Chicago Playworks for Young Audiences, the Theater School, DePaul University).
Since Tracy Letts' August: Osage County arrived on Broadway — directly from Steppenwolf, where it also garnered rave reviews — theatre folk have talked of the triple-decker drama (three acts, three generations of one tortured family) as a classic award-getter. It's serious-minded; it's long; it examines the timeless American subject of family — all earmarks of those sorts of works that are frequently considered significant.
At this time last year, few would have thought Chicago-based playwright Letts a contender for the Pulitzer. He was known for two potboiler genre plays, Killer Joe and Bug, both of which did well Off-Broadway, but didn't necessarily inspire critics to dust off a place for the writer in the theatre pantheon. His third play, Man From Nebraska was a Pulitzer contender. Still, when August: Osage County opened at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in June 2007, many remarked that it constituted a wholly unexpected step up for Letts. Reviews compared it to Albee, O'Neill, Shepard and a host of other weighty writers.
The story concerns the Weston family, a large Oklahoma clan with its share of problems. The family is handed a fresh peck of trouble and strife when patriarch Beverly up and disappears. Old wounds are torn open and new ones are unearthed, with the force of family exerting as irresistible a tidal pull on the various Westons as any ocean.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play — directed by Anna D. Shapiro — will offer its last performance at its current home, the Imperial Theatre, April 20 at 3 PM. Beginning April 29, the Steppenwolf production will begin performances at Broadway's Music Box Theatre.
The cast features Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed and Troy West. Michael McGuire recently joined the cast as patriarch Beverly Weston. McGuire succeeded Dennis Letts, the playwright's father, who created the role of the dissipated poet and died Feb. 22 after a battle with lung cancer.
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of August: Osage County is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group.
Tracy Letts is also the author of Man from Nebraska (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Killer Joe and Bug. His newest play, Superior Donuts, will make its world premiere in 2008 at Steppenwolf, where Letts is an ensemble member and artistic associate. As an actor, Letts has appeared in the Steppenwolf productions of Betrayal, The Pillowman, Last of the Boys, The Pain and the Itch, The Dresser, Homebody/Kabul, The Dazzle, Glengarry Glen Ross, Three Days of Rain, Road to Nirvana, Picasso at the Lapin Agile and The Glass Menagerie. Letts' screen credits include "The District," "Profiler," "Prison Break," "The Drew Carey Show," "Seinfeld," "Home Improvement," "Guinevere," "U.S. Marshals" and "Chicago Cab."
According to the Pulitzer website, the award is "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life" and "productions opening in the United States between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 are eligible" (and opening does mean press opening, as opposed to simply beginning previews). This year is only the third year that the drama prize has used the calendar year, as opposed to the previous system of considering plays between March of one year and March of the next. A small committee of theatre critics and artists determines the nominated finalists, and the overall Pulitzer board picks a winner.
*
The Pulitzer Prize — named for American journalist and publisher Joseph Pulitzer — was established in 1917, a stipulation of Pulitzer's will. The first Pulitzer Prize in Drama was awarded in 1918 to Jesse Lynch Williams' Why Marry?
The complete list of Pulitzer Prize in Drama winners is listed below:
2007: Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
2006: No award
2004-05: Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley
2003-04: I Am My Own Wife, by Doug Wright
2002-03: Anna in the Tropics, by Nilo Cruz
2001-02: Topdog/Underdog, by Suzan-Lori Parks
2000-01: Proof, by David Auburn
1999-00: Dinner with Friends, by Donald Margulies
1998-99: Wit, by Margaret Edson
1997-98: How I Learned To Drive, by Paula Vogel
1996-97: No award
1995-96: Rent, by Jonathan Larson
1994-95: The Young Man From Atlanta, by Horton Foote
1993 94: Three Tall Women, by Edward Albee
1992-93: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, by Tony Kushner
1991-92: The Kentucky Cycle, by Robert Schenkkan
1990-91: Lost in Yonkers, by Neil Simon
1989-90: The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson
1988-89: The Heidi Chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein
1987 88: Driving Miss Daisy, by Alfred Uhry
1986-87: Fences, by August Wilson
1985-86: No award
1984-85: Sunday in the Park With George, by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim
1983-84: Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet
1982-83: 'night, Mother, by Marsha Norman
1981 82: A Soldier's Play, by Charles Fuller
1980-81: Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
1979-80: Talley's Folly, by Lanford Wilson
1978-79: Buried Child, by Sam Shepard
1977-78: The Gin Game, by D.L. Coburn
1976-77: The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer
1975-76: A Chorus Line, by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban
1974-75: Seascape, by Edward Albee
1973 74: No award
1972-73: That Championship Season, by Jason Miller
1971-72: No award
1970-71: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, by Paul Zindel
1969-70: No Place To Be Somebody, by Charles Gordone
1968-69: The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler
1967-68: No award
1966 67: A Delicate Balance, by Edward Albee
1965-66: No award
1964 65: The Subject Was Roses, by Frank D. Gilroy
1963-64: No award
1962-63: No award
1961-62: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Abe Burrows, Willie Gilbert, Jack Weinstock and Frank Loesser
1960-61: All the Way Home, by Tad Mosel
1959-60: Fiorello!, by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
1958-59: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish
1957-58: Look Homeward, Angel, by Ketti Frings
1956-57: Long Day's Journey Into Night, by Eugene O'Neill
1955-56: The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
1954-55: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams
1953-54: The Teahouse of the August Moon, by John Patrick
1952-53: Picnic, by William Inge
1951-52: The Shrike, by Joseph Kramm
1950-51: No award
1949-50: South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
1948-49: Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
1947-48: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
1946-47: No award
1945-46: State of the Union, by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
1944-45: Harvey, by Mary Chase
1943-44: No award
1942-43: The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder
1941-42: No award
1940-41: There Shall Be No Night, by Robert E. Sherwood
1939-40: The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan
1938-39: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, by Robert E. Sherwood
1937-38: Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
1936-37: You Can't Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
1935-36: Idiot's Delight, by Robert E. Sherwood
1934-35: The Old Maid, by Zoe Akins
1933-34: Men in White, by Sidney Kingsley
1932-33: Both Your Houses, by Maxwell Anderson
1931-32: Of Thee I Sing, by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Ira and George Gershwin
1930-31: Alison's House, by Susan Glaspell
1929-30: The Green Pastures, by Marc Connelly
1928-29: Street Scene, by Elmer Rice
1927-28: Strange Interlude, by Eugene O'Neill
1926-27: In Abraham's Bosom, by Paul Green
1925-26: Craig's Wife, by George Kelly
1924-25: They Knew What They Wanted, by Sidney Howard
1923-24: Hell-Bent fer Heaven, by Hatcher Hughes
1922-23: Icebound, by Owen Davis
1921-22: Anna Christie, by Eugene O'Neill
1920-21: Miss Lulu Bett, by Zona Gale
1919-20: Beyond the Horizon, by Eugene O'Neill
1918-19: No award
1917-18: Why Marry?, by Jesse Lynch Williams
1916-17: No award
PHOTO CREDITS: Amy Morton & Deanna Dunagan by Michael Brosilow; Tracy Letts by Aubrey Reuben; Cast of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Joan Marcus
***
Here is the article from Playbill.com:
By Andrew Gans
and Robert Simonson, Adam Hetrick
07 Apr 2008
Tracy Letts' dysfunctional-family drama August: Osage County, which opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre in December 2007, has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.The Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalists were Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang and Dying City by Christopher Shinn.
The 2008 Letters, Drama and Music jurors included Peter Marks (drama critic for The Washington Post), David Lindsay-Abaire (the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner), Jeremy McCarter (drama critic for New York Magazine), Charles McNulty (drama critic for the L.A. Times) and Lisa Portes (head of MFA Directing and artistic director of Chicago Playworks for Young Audiences, the Theater School, DePaul University).
Since Tracy Letts' August: Osage County arrived on Broadway — directly from Steppenwolf, where it also garnered rave reviews — theatre folk have talked of the triple-decker drama (three acts, three generations of one tortured family) as a classic award-getter. It's serious-minded; it's long; it examines the timeless American subject of family — all earmarks of those sorts of works that are frequently considered significant.
At this time last year, few would have thought Chicago-based playwright Letts a contender for the Pulitzer. He was known for two potboiler genre plays, Killer Joe and Bug, both of which did well Off-Broadway, but didn't necessarily inspire critics to dust off a place for the writer in the theatre pantheon. His third play, Man From Nebraska was a Pulitzer contender. Still, when August: Osage County opened at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in June 2007, many remarked that it constituted a wholly unexpected step up for Letts. Reviews compared it to Albee, O'Neill, Shepard and a host of other weighty writers.
The story concerns the Weston family, a large Oklahoma clan with its share of problems. The family is handed a fresh peck of trouble and strife when patriarch Beverly up and disappears. Old wounds are torn open and new ones are unearthed, with the force of family exerting as irresistible a tidal pull on the various Westons as any ocean.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play — directed by Anna D. Shapiro — will offer its last performance at its current home, the Imperial Theatre, April 20 at 3 PM. Beginning April 29, the Steppenwolf production will begin performances at Broadway's Music Box Theatre.
The cast features Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed and Troy West. Michael McGuire recently joined the cast as patriarch Beverly Weston. McGuire succeeded Dennis Letts, the playwright's father, who created the role of the dissipated poet and died Feb. 22 after a battle with lung cancer.
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of August: Osage County is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group.
Tracy Letts is also the author of Man from Nebraska (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Killer Joe and Bug. His newest play, Superior Donuts, will make its world premiere in 2008 at Steppenwolf, where Letts is an ensemble member and artistic associate. As an actor, Letts has appeared in the Steppenwolf productions of Betrayal, The Pillowman, Last of the Boys, The Pain and the Itch, The Dresser, Homebody/Kabul, The Dazzle, Glengarry Glen Ross, Three Days of Rain, Road to Nirvana, Picasso at the Lapin Agile and The Glass Menagerie. Letts' screen credits include "The District," "Profiler," "Prison Break," "The Drew Carey Show," "Seinfeld," "Home Improvement," "Guinevere," "U.S. Marshals" and "Chicago Cab."According to the Pulitzer website, the award is "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life" and "productions opening in the United States between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 are eligible" (and opening does mean press opening, as opposed to simply beginning previews). This year is only the third year that the drama prize has used the calendar year, as opposed to the previous system of considering plays between March of one year and March of the next. A small committee of theatre critics and artists determines the nominated finalists, and the overall Pulitzer board picks a winner.
*
The Pulitzer Prize — named for American journalist and publisher Joseph Pulitzer — was established in 1917, a stipulation of Pulitzer's will. The first Pulitzer Prize in Drama was awarded in 1918 to Jesse Lynch Williams' Why Marry?
The complete list of Pulitzer Prize in Drama winners is listed below:
2007: Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
2006: No award
2004-05: Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley
2003-04: I Am My Own Wife, by Doug Wright
2002-03: Anna in the Tropics, by Nilo Cruz
2001-02: Topdog/Underdog, by Suzan-Lori Parks
2000-01: Proof, by David Auburn
1999-00: Dinner with Friends, by Donald Margulies
1998-99: Wit, by Margaret Edson
1997-98: How I Learned To Drive, by Paula Vogel
1996-97: No award
1995-96: Rent, by Jonathan Larson
1994-95: The Young Man From Atlanta, by Horton Foote
1993 94: Three Tall Women, by Edward Albee
1992-93: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, by Tony Kushner
1991-92: The Kentucky Cycle, by Robert Schenkkan
1990-91: Lost in Yonkers, by Neil Simon
1989-90: The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson
1988-89: The Heidi Chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein
1987 88: Driving Miss Daisy, by Alfred Uhry
1986-87: Fences, by August Wilson
1985-86: No award
1984-85: Sunday in the Park With George, by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim
1983-84: Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet
1982-83: 'night, Mother, by Marsha Norman
1981 82: A Soldier's Play, by Charles Fuller
1980-81: Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
1979-80: Talley's Folly, by Lanford Wilson
1978-79: Buried Child, by Sam Shepard
1977-78: The Gin Game, by D.L. Coburn
1976-77: The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer
1975-76: A Chorus Line, by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban
1974-75: Seascape, by Edward Albee
1973 74: No award
1972-73: That Championship Season, by Jason Miller
1971-72: No award
1970-71: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, by Paul Zindel
1969-70: No Place To Be Somebody, by Charles Gordone
1968-69: The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler
1967-68: No award
1966 67: A Delicate Balance, by Edward Albee
1965-66: No award
1964 65: The Subject Was Roses, by Frank D. Gilroy
1963-64: No award
1962-63: No award
1961-62: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Abe Burrows, Willie Gilbert, Jack Weinstock and Frank Loesser
1960-61: All the Way Home, by Tad Mosel
1959-60: Fiorello!, by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
1958-59: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish
1957-58: Look Homeward, Angel, by Ketti Frings
1956-57: Long Day's Journey Into Night, by Eugene O'Neill
1955-56: The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
1954-55: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams
1953-54: The Teahouse of the August Moon, by John Patrick
1952-53: Picnic, by William Inge
1951-52: The Shrike, by Joseph Kramm
1950-51: No award
1949-50: South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
1948-49: Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
1947-48: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
1946-47: No award
1945-46: State of the Union, by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
1944-45: Harvey, by Mary Chase
1943-44: No award
1942-43: The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder
1941-42: No award
1940-41: There Shall Be No Night, by Robert E. Sherwood
1939-40: The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan
1938-39: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, by Robert E. Sherwood
1937-38: Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
1936-37: You Can't Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
1935-36: Idiot's Delight, by Robert E. Sherwood
1934-35: The Old Maid, by Zoe Akins
1933-34: Men in White, by Sidney Kingsley
1932-33: Both Your Houses, by Maxwell Anderson
1931-32: Of Thee I Sing, by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Ira and George Gershwin
1930-31: Alison's House, by Susan Glaspell
1929-30: The Green Pastures, by Marc Connelly
1928-29: Street Scene, by Elmer Rice
1927-28: Strange Interlude, by Eugene O'Neill
1926-27: In Abraham's Bosom, by Paul Green
1925-26: Craig's Wife, by George Kelly
1924-25: They Knew What They Wanted, by Sidney Howard
1923-24: Hell-Bent fer Heaven, by Hatcher Hughes
1922-23: Icebound, by Owen Davis
1921-22: Anna Christie, by Eugene O'Neill
1920-21: Miss Lulu Bett, by Zona Gale
1919-20: Beyond the Horizon, by Eugene O'Neill
1918-19: No award
1917-18: Why Marry?, by Jesse Lynch Williams
1916-17: No award
PHOTO CREDITS: Amy Morton & Deanna Dunagan by Michael Brosilow; Tracy Letts by Aubrey Reuben; Cast of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Joan Marcus
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
RIP, Dennis Letts
Dennis Letts, Actor Who Appeared in Son's August: Osage County, Dead at 73
By Kenneth Jones
24 Feb 2008
Dennis Letts, the patrician actor who created the role of Beverly Weston — the father who goes missing at the top of the acclaimed Chicago and Broadway play, August: Osage County — died Feb. 22, his son playwright Tracy Letts told the Chicago Tribune.
Mr. Letts' final role as an actor was in his son's most embraced and popular play, which is currently an audience and critical sensation at Broadway's Imperial Theatre. A failed poet whose marriage is soaked in booze and pills, Beverly hires a housekeeper in the opening scene of the play, and then mysteriously vanishes. The event prompts a reunion of the dysfunctional Weston family.
The juicy play was inspired by Letts' family history, and is set in the territory from whence the family came — Oklahoma. Mr. Letts died of cancer in Tulsa, OK. He was 73 years old, the Trib reported. He left the Broadway show in late January.
Mr. Letts created the role in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's world premiere of August in summer 2007, and moved with the troupe to Broadway. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2007 after the Windy City run.
"His choice to persevere with the New York production in the face of his devastating diagnosis is a testament to his love for the project and the people involved," Tracy Letts said in a statement. "Dad had a full and fascinating life, and August: Osage County was the cherry on top."
August will move from Broadway's large Imperial to the more intimate Music Box on Broadway in the spring. There is buzz of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award potential for the humor-laced soap-operatic drama.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Letts was a college professor who specialized in literature and writing. He taught at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He began acting late in his career, at age 50.
Mr. Letts has appeared in more than 40 films and television shows as a character actor, including "Little Boy Blue," "Infamous," "Secondhand Lions," "Cast Away," "A Perfect World," "Bloodsuckers From Outer Space" and "Where the Heart Is." Recent theatre work includes two original plays performed in Austin, TX: Dead Presidents' Club by Larry L. King and Sonny's Last Shot by Lawrence Wright.
Survivors include his wife, Billie; brother Ray Don; and three sons, Tracy, Dana and Shawn. A memorial service for Mr. Letts will be Feb. 28 at Mallett Funeral Home Chapel in Wagoner, OK.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/115328.html
Dennis Letts, Actor & Father of 'August' Playwright, Dies
Sunday, February 24 2008 10:39p
by BWW News Desk
Dennis Letts, who was currently appearing as the patriarch-gone-missing from the highly-acclaimed new play August: Osage County, penned by son Tracy Letts, has died of lung-cancer on Friday, February 22. He was 73 years old.
Dennis Letts originated the role of Beverly Weston in August: Osage County, with both the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and the Broadway company at the Imperial Theater on Broadway. He was an Oklahoma actor and retired English university professor; and appeared in more than 40 films and TV shows in his lifetime.
Tracy Letts released the following statement: "My father was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in September of last year, following the Chicago run of August: Osage County and prior to the Broadway transfer. His choice to persevere with the New York production in the face of his devastating diagnosis is a testament to his love for the project and the people involved. Dad had a full and fascinating life, and August: Osage County was the cherry on top. My family will be forever grateful for the many kindnesses shown to Dad by the wonderful people associated with the production."
The New York Times details: "Letts, whose cancer was diagnosed in September, was an English professor for 30 years, mostly at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. He performed in community and university stage productions during those years and took up acting as a second career after retiring from teaching. His acting credits include Where the Heart Is, the film version of a novel by his wife, Billie Letts; he served as an editor for her novels."
Dennis Letts is survived by his wife, Billie; brother Ray Don; and three sons, Tracy, Dana and Shawn. A memorial service for Letts will be held on Thursday, February 28 at Mallett Funeral Home Chapel in Wagoner, Oklahoma.
http://http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=25442
By Kenneth Jones
24 Feb 2008
Dennis Letts, the patrician actor who created the role of Beverly Weston — the father who goes missing at the top of the acclaimed Chicago and Broadway play, August: Osage County — died Feb. 22, his son playwright Tracy Letts told the Chicago Tribune.Mr. Letts' final role as an actor was in his son's most embraced and popular play, which is currently an audience and critical sensation at Broadway's Imperial Theatre. A failed poet whose marriage is soaked in booze and pills, Beverly hires a housekeeper in the opening scene of the play, and then mysteriously vanishes. The event prompts a reunion of the dysfunctional Weston family.
The juicy play was inspired by Letts' family history, and is set in the territory from whence the family came — Oklahoma. Mr. Letts died of cancer in Tulsa, OK. He was 73 years old, the Trib reported. He left the Broadway show in late January.
Mr. Letts created the role in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's world premiere of August in summer 2007, and moved with the troupe to Broadway. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2007 after the Windy City run.
"His choice to persevere with the New York production in the face of his devastating diagnosis is a testament to his love for the project and the people involved," Tracy Letts said in a statement. "Dad had a full and fascinating life, and August: Osage County was the cherry on top."
August will move from Broadway's large Imperial to the more intimate Music Box on Broadway in the spring. There is buzz of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award potential for the humor-laced soap-operatic drama.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Letts was a college professor who specialized in literature and writing. He taught at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He began acting late in his career, at age 50.
Mr. Letts has appeared in more than 40 films and television shows as a character actor, including "Little Boy Blue," "Infamous," "Secondhand Lions," "Cast Away," "A Perfect World," "Bloodsuckers From Outer Space" and "Where the Heart Is." Recent theatre work includes two original plays performed in Austin, TX: Dead Presidents' Club by Larry L. King and Sonny's Last Shot by Lawrence Wright.
Survivors include his wife, Billie; brother Ray Don; and three sons, Tracy, Dana and Shawn. A memorial service for Mr. Letts will be Feb. 28 at Mallett Funeral Home Chapel in Wagoner, OK.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/115328.html
Dennis Letts, Actor & Father of 'August' Playwright, Dies
Sunday, February 24 2008 10:39p
by BWW News Desk
Dennis Letts, who was currently appearing as the patriarch-gone-missing from the highly-acclaimed new play August: Osage County, penned by son Tracy Letts, has died of lung-cancer on Friday, February 22. He was 73 years old.
Dennis Letts originated the role of Beverly Weston in August: Osage County, with both the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and the Broadway company at the Imperial Theater on Broadway. He was an Oklahoma actor and retired English university professor; and appeared in more than 40 films and TV shows in his lifetime.
Tracy Letts released the following statement: "My father was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in September of last year, following the Chicago run of August: Osage County and prior to the Broadway transfer. His choice to persevere with the New York production in the face of his devastating diagnosis is a testament to his love for the project and the people involved. Dad had a full and fascinating life, and August: Osage County was the cherry on top. My family will be forever grateful for the many kindnesses shown to Dad by the wonderful people associated with the production."
The New York Times details: "Letts, whose cancer was diagnosed in September, was an English professor for 30 years, mostly at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. He performed in community and university stage productions during those years and took up acting as a second career after retiring from teaching. His acting credits include Where the Heart Is, the film version of a novel by his wife, Billie Letts; he served as an editor for her novels."
Dennis Letts is survived by his wife, Billie; brother Ray Don; and three sons, Tracy, Dana and Shawn. A memorial service for Letts will be held on Thursday, February 28 at Mallett Funeral Home Chapel in Wagoner, Oklahoma.
http://http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=25442
Monday, January 14, 2008
More Dysfunction! August Gets Five Added Weeks on Broadway
Oh.My.Gooshnick!!! Say, WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How EXTREMELY Joyous does this news make me feel? Wow. So, all you out there have MORE time to see this whoop-ass show. For my friends in the area of California that is southern =P, I suggest that you make some plans before 13 April to head over to NY. Not only to see moi But to See This Show. Even if you DON'T see me and see the show instead...that would be SO fine with this gal!!! That's how much I Love-Love-LOVE this show.
This is probably the wrong word for the show but, it is sublime. Intensely sublime. Dark. It's an actor's utopia. I'm gonna stop now because I think you'd need to be sitting with me inside a NY French cafe =P, and listening to my description, my experience of the show. I'm not focused on writing about it!
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is The Show that I have been recommending to anyone since first seeing it in November. Everyone: GO.
*
By Kenneth Jones
14 Jan 2008
The Broadway engagement of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, critically embraced and an audience favorite, has been extended to April 13 at the Imperial Theatre.
The producers announced the added weeks on Jan. 14. The play was to be seen in a strictly limited 16-week run to March 9, but the dysfunctional-family drama is like a house on fire. The Steppenwolf Theater Company production is doing big business in the 1,400-seat theatre usually known as a home for musicals. In addition to enthusiastic reviews, the staging has prompted good word of mouth, fueling the box office.
The play tells of "the Weston clan after the disappearance of their patriarch. The family returns to their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to get to the heart of the matter."
The cast includes Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Dennis Letts, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed, Troy West, Munson Hicks, Susanne Marley, Jay Patterson, Dee Pelletier, Molly Ranson, Aaron Serotsky and Kristina Valada-Viars.
The cast does not change with this extension — the Chicago-based actors who created the central roles in the humor-spiked drama will still bite into their parts. Mutiple Tony Award nominations are assured.
Anna D. Shapiro (The Pain and the Itch, Iron) directs the production. The design team includes Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).
The Imperial Theatre is located at 245 West 45th Street. The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 PM, Saturday at 8 PM, Wednesday & Saturady at 2 PM and Sunday at 3 PM.
Note some early curtain times, which take into account the show's three acts and three-and-a-half-hour running time.
Tickets are available at Telecharge.com and at (212) 239-6200. Prices range from $99.50 to $26.50.
*
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of August: Osage County is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group.
This is probably the wrong word for the show but, it is sublime. Intensely sublime. Dark. It's an actor's utopia. I'm gonna stop now because I think you'd need to be sitting with me inside a NY French cafe =P, and listening to my description, my experience of the show. I'm not focused on writing about it!
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is The Show that I have been recommending to anyone since first seeing it in November. Everyone: GO.
*
By Kenneth Jones
14 Jan 2008
The Broadway engagement of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, critically embraced and an audience favorite, has been extended to April 13 at the Imperial Theatre. The producers announced the added weeks on Jan. 14. The play was to be seen in a strictly limited 16-week run to March 9, but the dysfunctional-family drama is like a house on fire. The Steppenwolf Theater Company production is doing big business in the 1,400-seat theatre usually known as a home for musicals. In addition to enthusiastic reviews, the staging has prompted good word of mouth, fueling the box office.
The play tells of "the Weston clan after the disappearance of their patriarch. The family returns to their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to get to the heart of the matter."
The cast includes Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Dennis Letts, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed, Troy West, Munson Hicks, Susanne Marley, Jay Patterson, Dee Pelletier, Molly Ranson, Aaron Serotsky and Kristina Valada-Viars.
The cast does not change with this extension — the Chicago-based actors who created the central roles in the humor-spiked drama will still bite into their parts. Mutiple Tony Award nominations are assured.
Anna D. Shapiro (The Pain and the Itch, Iron) directs the production. The design team includes Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).
The Imperial Theatre is located at 245 West 45th Street. The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 PM, Saturday at 8 PM, Wednesday & Saturady at 2 PM and Sunday at 3 PM.
Note some early curtain times, which take into account the show's three acts and three-and-a-half-hour running time.
Tickets are available at Telecharge.com and at (212) 239-6200. Prices range from $99.50 to $26.50.
*
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of August: Osage County is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
SO glad that the original cast from Chicago transferred to NY. Thank you!!! I would change no one in the cast. No.One. And it has found an audience, I believe. It's been packed both times I went. When we tried to get tickets for this past Friday night, they were sold out! So, we were lucky to get tickets for Saturday night=)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Broadway.com's FRESH FACE Interview with Deanna Dunagan
Where's the meat?! Where's the meat?!! Where's the meat?!!!
Shame on you! It's not cowboys and Indians! It's cowboys and Native Americans!
Oh, my! This woman. Last night, I watched AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY for the 2nd time with 2 of my good friends. To me, there is no weak link in the ensemble. It's so strong and down to the guts and marrow. One of the great things about the play is that there is HUMOR and IRONY. It's definitely an intense family-drama and THANK GOD (!) for the humor. *whew*
Deanna is...you know, there really aren't any words that would suffice so I will just stay silent, BUT will say THIS (atleast): If you are in NY, I beg you to please, please, PLEASE see this show. (I shouldn't have to beg) And even if you aren't in NY, you really Should make EVERY EFFORT to come to the Big Apple just to see this show. It closes on March 9th, I believe. I'm hoping to catch it atleast one more time before it closes.
Deanna Dunagan
by Kathy Henderson
Age: "I don't tell. And the reason I don't is that nobody can divorce that [number] from who you are. It starts getting that way in your 40s."
Currently: Playing Violet Weston, the pill-popping, meaner-than-a-snake matriarch in Tracy Letts' acclaimed family epic August: Osage County.
Hometown: Monahans, Texas. "It's 36 miles west of Odessa, where Friday Night Lights was set, and 60 miles west of Midland, where George Bush is from."
Lone Star Lady: "My heritage is a long line of Southern Baptist and Methodist preachers—who were all just frustrated actors," Dunagan begins, when asked about her background. "My dad was a Coca-Cola bottler and president of the Texas Historical Association. He wrote history as his avocation." Like a good southern girl, Deanna got a degree in music education and married young, but the union didn't last, and her parents agreed to fund graduate studies at the Dallas Theater Center after her divorce. Dunagan breezes through the next section of her resume—"I lived in Mexico while I was writing my thesis and was engaged to a bullfighter"—and goes on to explain that she honed her skills at regional theaters such as the Asolo in Florida and the Actors Theatre of Louisville before trying her luck in New York. (The bullfighter moved to Spain.)
Please Stand By: A star of the Chicago stage for more than two decades, Dunagan is quick to point out that August: Osage County is not her Broadway debut. "In 1979, I was an understudy at Circle in the Square in Shaw's Man and Superman," she says. "George Grizzard, Philip Bosco, Richard Woods and Mark Lamos were in it. One night I got to the theater three minutes late for half hour, and they said, 'You're going on.' Ann Sachs was sick. I was terrified! But I said to myself, 'Just go out and say the words. These are fabulous actors; just feed them their lines.' And it was one of the best performances I ever gave. The head of ICM, Milton Goldman, was in the audience and signed me the next day. They wrote a story about it in Back Stage."
Wonderful Windy City: Arriving in Chicago just before Christmas on a national tour of Children of a Lesser God, Dunagan felt at home immediately. She decided to put down roots and soon became a stalwart of the city's thriving theater scene. "I've worked at more than 30 theaters in the Chicago area, so it's always fresh," she says. "I'm a Gemini—we're communicators, but we have a short attention span. I enjoy being able to work on a show for three months and then go on to the next project. I get to do twice, if not three or four times, the number of plays I could do in New York. I love my career in Chicago."
The Parent Trap: For much of the three-plus hours of August: Osage County, Dunagan's drug-addicted character spews venom (often hilariously) at her three grown daughters, sister, various in-laws and a Native American maid. After an initial reading of the play left her "devastated," the actress repeatedly turned down the role of Violet. "I have knee problems and back problems and didn't think I could do it physically," she says of walking up and down the three-story house set. "And Violet is so vicious. The pills release her inhibitions, and she just lashes out. I played Mary Tyrone [in Long Day's Journey Into Night] when I was younger, but Mary is a piece of cake compared with Violet Weston." The overall strength of Letts' play made her reconsider, and Dunagan's performance won a Jeff Award in August's premiere production last summer at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.
Big Apple Return: When Dunagan heard that August would transfer to Broadway, her initial response wasn't exactly what one would expect from an actress playing one of the season's juiciest parts. "I went into such a depression," she confesses. "For the last few weeks of the show [in Chicago] I was in physical pain, so I spent all my time after we closed seeing doctors, physical therapists and voice coaches, trying to get in shape to do this Broadway run." She missed a nephew's wedding during previews, but managed to fly to Cincinnati to see her grandson in a school play during the stagehands strike. And—happily—she's enjoying presenting the evil Violet to Broadway audiences. "It's a brilliant play—that's what makes it worth it. We want to share this wonderful work with more people. That's why we all came to New York."
Shame on you! It's not cowboys and Indians! It's cowboys and Native Americans!
Oh, my! This woman. Last night, I watched AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY for the 2nd time with 2 of my good friends. To me, there is no weak link in the ensemble. It's so strong and down to the guts and marrow. One of the great things about the play is that there is HUMOR and IRONY. It's definitely an intense family-drama and THANK GOD (!) for the humor. *whew*
Deanna is...you know, there really aren't any words that would suffice so I will just stay silent, BUT will say THIS (atleast): If you are in NY, I beg you to please, please, PLEASE see this show. (I shouldn't have to beg) And even if you aren't in NY, you really Should make EVERY EFFORT to come to the Big Apple just to see this show. It closes on March 9th, I believe. I'm hoping to catch it atleast one more time before it closes.
Deanna Dunagan
by Kathy Henderson
Age: "I don't tell. And the reason I don't is that nobody can divorce that [number] from who you are. It starts getting that way in your 40s."
Currently: Playing Violet Weston, the pill-popping, meaner-than-a-snake matriarch in Tracy Letts' acclaimed family epic August: Osage County.
Hometown: Monahans, Texas. "It's 36 miles west of Odessa, where Friday Night Lights was set, and 60 miles west of Midland, where George Bush is from."
Lone Star Lady: "My heritage is a long line of Southern Baptist and Methodist preachers—who were all just frustrated actors," Dunagan begins, when asked about her background. "My dad was a Coca-Cola bottler and president of the Texas Historical Association. He wrote history as his avocation." Like a good southern girl, Deanna got a degree in music education and married young, but the union didn't last, and her parents agreed to fund graduate studies at the Dallas Theater Center after her divorce. Dunagan breezes through the next section of her resume—"I lived in Mexico while I was writing my thesis and was engaged to a bullfighter"—and goes on to explain that she honed her skills at regional theaters such as the Asolo in Florida and the Actors Theatre of Louisville before trying her luck in New York. (The bullfighter moved to Spain.)
Please Stand By: A star of the Chicago stage for more than two decades, Dunagan is quick to point out that August: Osage County is not her Broadway debut. "In 1979, I was an understudy at Circle in the Square in Shaw's Man and Superman," she says. "George Grizzard, Philip Bosco, Richard Woods and Mark Lamos were in it. One night I got to the theater three minutes late for half hour, and they said, 'You're going on.' Ann Sachs was sick. I was terrified! But I said to myself, 'Just go out and say the words. These are fabulous actors; just feed them their lines.' And it was one of the best performances I ever gave. The head of ICM, Milton Goldman, was in the audience and signed me the next day. They wrote a story about it in Back Stage."
Wonderful Windy City: Arriving in Chicago just before Christmas on a national tour of Children of a Lesser God, Dunagan felt at home immediately. She decided to put down roots and soon became a stalwart of the city's thriving theater scene. "I've worked at more than 30 theaters in the Chicago area, so it's always fresh," she says. "I'm a Gemini—we're communicators, but we have a short attention span. I enjoy being able to work on a show for three months and then go on to the next project. I get to do twice, if not three or four times, the number of plays I could do in New York. I love my career in Chicago." The Parent Trap: For much of the three-plus hours of August: Osage County, Dunagan's drug-addicted character spews venom (often hilariously) at her three grown daughters, sister, various in-laws and a Native American maid. After an initial reading of the play left her "devastated," the actress repeatedly turned down the role of Violet. "I have knee problems and back problems and didn't think I could do it physically," she says of walking up and down the three-story house set. "And Violet is so vicious. The pills release her inhibitions, and she just lashes out. I played Mary Tyrone [in Long Day's Journey Into Night] when I was younger, but Mary is a piece of cake compared with Violet Weston." The overall strength of Letts' play made her reconsider, and Dunagan's performance won a Jeff Award in August's premiere production last summer at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.
Big Apple Return: When Dunagan heard that August would transfer to Broadway, her initial response wasn't exactly what one would expect from an actress playing one of the season's juiciest parts. "I went into such a depression," she confesses. "For the last few weeks of the show [in Chicago] I was in physical pain, so I spent all my time after we closed seeing doctors, physical therapists and voice coaches, trying to get in shape to do this Broadway run." She missed a nephew's wedding during previews, but managed to fly to Cincinnati to see her grandson in a school play during the stagehands strike. And—happily—she's enjoying presenting the evil Violet to Broadway audiences. "It's a brilliant play—that's what makes it worth it. We want to share this wonderful work with more people. That's why we all came to New York."
Thursday, December 20, 2007
PLAYBILL.COM'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER With Amy Morton
By Robert Simonson
19 December 2007
19 December 2007
Meet Chicago actress Amy Morton, who plays a rumbling volcano of a wife-mother-daughter in Broadway's August: Osage County.
*
Much of the pre-opening press about the cast of August: Osage County centered on Deanna Dunagan, who plays Violet, the vicious matriarch of the triple-decker Tracy Letts drama about three dysfunctional generations of a small-town Oklahoma family.
But Amy Morton, who plays Violet's strongest daughter, Barbara, is actually on stage more and tracks the more expansive character arc. Over three and a half hours, we watch her comfort her mother, then challenge her, outright attack her, verge on becoming her and then abandon her altogether, all while putting out sundry immediate and extended familial fires. Barbara is played by Amy Morton, one of the most dominant actresses and directors in her hometown of Chicago, but a talent almost unknown in New York. Morton mustered up the energy to talk to Playbill.com about the show that has been a thrilling and exhausting experience for her.
Playbill.com: Is this the biggest acting assignment you've ever had?
Amy Morton: Uh, yeah, this being a three-act play (Laughs), this is probably the most time I've been on stage.
Playbill.com: Have you ever been in one of Tracy Letts' plays before?
AM: No. I've been in quite a few shows with him as an actor, and I've directed him.
Playbill.com: When you read the play, did it come as a surprise to you, knowing his previous work?
AM: The breadth of it came as a surprise to me, meaning the size. That many characters, that many generations, that big a set, yeah. I had no idea that was what he was working on. It didn't surprise me it was as good as it was.
Playbill.com: Are you from the Midwest?
AM: Yes, I grew up in a suburb of Chicago.
Playbill.com: I grew up in Wisconsin. When I was watching the play, even though the action takes place in Oklahoma, I recognized many of the attitudes of the characters and the family dynamics and behavior. Did any of the writing speak to you of your own experience growing up?
AM: Absolutely. It was interesting. Most of the cast members of this play come from small towns. All of us in the original Chicago production were from the Midwest. In the New York production, all but two are from the Midwest. And it's a very Midwestern tale. (Laughs.) I don't mean because it's got sensationalism or any of that stuff — the huge surprises you find in the play. I think it's stoicism, its pent-up pain — it's certainly Midwestern.
Playbill.com: Letts has mentioned quite a lot that the character of Violet is based on his own grandmother. Has he said that your character is based on anyone in particular?
AM: I think my character is an amalgamation of a few people in his family, but not specifically just one.
Playbill.com: Your character has an incredible arc in the play. What was the hardest part of achieving that journey?
AM: Stamina. Building up the stamina. Physical and emotional. It's a long haul and it's a tough uphill slog. It takes a while for your emotional muscle and your physical muscle to be able to withstand the whole three hours and 20 minutes. I remember during the previews in Chicago thinking, "Oh my God, it's the third act and I can't act anymore."
Playbill.com: You were out of acting!
AM: That took a little while. But the great thing about the play is it doesn't require a lot a preparation, emotionally or anything like that. It's written so well, you just get on the ride and there it goes.
Playbill.com: What's the most difficult scene for you?
AM: No particular scene. It's jumping up and yelling as much as I do. You see, your body doesn't know you're lying. At the end of the show, the next day you wake up and feel a little bit like a cripple, because as far as your body's concerned, it thinks you're in trauma eight times a week. So, I'm sure the show has taken a number of years off my life, but that's OK.
Playbill.com: Is there a scene in the play that is the most fun for you?
AM: Well, certainly the scene where I say, "Eat your fish, bitch!" That's a fun scene. I get to get away with murder. It's just fun.
Playbill.com: Do you take your days pretty easy to rest up?
AM: Yeah. I really can't do much. It's just too hard to do. I had all these fantasies that "During the day, I'll go to the museum and blah, blah, blah." That's not happened so much.
*
Amy Morton is one ferocious mama. I bet she would eat your eyes if you were a horrible collaborator! (JUST KIDDING) Thank you to Matt who told me to get a ticket to the show when I met up with him to watch Pinter's THE HOMECOMING (great performance by Eve Best).
It's a small world. I know her husband. Matt and I worked with him while we were doing LIFE IS A DREAM at South Coast Rep. He was one of the composers.
For me, there really was no weak link in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. But, of course, my favorites were the mother (Deanna Dunagan) and the eldest daughter (Amy Morton). Watch out!
I'm so glad that I have more opportunities to see the show. They extended 3 weeks because of the strike. They close on March 9th, I believe.
Get ready to go if you're a friend of mine that lives in NY or that will be visiting before March 9th...!
PS This article came out yesterday the 19th, which--by the buy--was my parents' anniversary. Thirty-one years, folks!
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