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August: Osage County |  | Author: Tracy Letts
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.44
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Seller: gomezmau14
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 17,186
Media: Paperback
Pages: 152
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 1559363304
Dewey Decimal Number: 812.6
EAN: 9781559363303
ASIN: 1559363304
Publication Date: February 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| | ISBN13: 9781559363303 | | | Condition: NEW | | | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama “A tremendous achievement in American playwriting: a tragicomic populist portrait of a tough land and a tougher people.”—Time Out New York “Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County is what O’Neill would be writing in 2007. Letts has recaptured the nobility of American drama’s mid-century heyday while still creating something entirely original.”—New York magazine One of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, August: Osage County is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest—and absolute worst. When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. The three-act, three-and-a-half-hour mammoth of a play combines epic tragedy with black comedy, dramatizing three generations of unfulfilled dreams and leaving not one of its thirteen characters unscathed. After its sold-out Chicago premiere, the play has electrified audiences in New York since its opening in November 2007. Tracy Letts is the author of Killer Joe, Bug, and Man from Nebraska, which was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His plays have been performed throughout the country and internationally. A performer as well as a playwright, Letts is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where August: Osage County premiered.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Summer and Smoke (and Pills) February 11, 2008
D. N. Stone (Stamford, CT United States)
36 out of 45 found this review helpful
When The Stern Librarian saw this show in New York recently she heard lot of debate at intermission (both of them!) about whether Tracy Letts has a written a classic to stand with the best of Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams, or whether the play is a Carol Burnett spoof of those masters. Anyone who thinks this play is nothing but a bawdy of exchange of insults and swears (and catfights about catfish) should read the published play. On the page it is abundantly clear that the poetry quoted in the lovely opening scene by the doomed husband finds its messy, human correlative in the scenes that follow, with language so memorable it deserves to be printed on t-shirts and sold in the lobby. This is a masterpiece from beginning to end, from August to tragic December. The Stern Librarian (I get a lot of reading done in the TKTS booth).
The Most Exciting Play This Year February 7, 2008
50footrule (New York, NY USA)
12 out of 17 found this review helpful
August: Osage County is literally the most exciting play of the year. I saw the play in early January, and instantly fell in love with it. Which is an odd thing to say considering the plays heavy subject matter. It deals with everything from drug abuse, molestation, suicide and other topics that just by letting you know what they are would be spoilers.
And while it may seem over loaded with serious subjects, it is a play about a family coming together after the loss of a family member and is filled with so much humor, it's hard to believe that it's a drama. Of course most of the laughter comes out of awkwardness of the situation.
This family has their share of problems and they all rise to the surface when shoved together for the funeral. There are dishes broken, marragies ruined and lots of yelling and cursing. If it sounds a little melodramatic, it is. BUT it's written in such a clear, precise way, it transends simple melodrama and becomes something else all together.
My only reservation is that the play is very long. It is three full acts. (Running time was over 3 and a half hours on Broadway) BUT it is so worth it. It is able to cover so much ground because it's thorough and no plot of subject is dropped.
This is going to be a play that will be around for a while. A true ensemble piece, what we've come to expect from Steppenwolf Theatre. It is a Modern American Classic.
Interesting dark comedy November 7, 2009
Dr. Rosaria Caporrimo (Flushing, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a very interesting dark comedy about a disfunctional midwestern family. I read it because my community theater group is doing a workshop on it. I did secure the role of Karen, which is exciting. The characters are complex and the dynamics are psychologically compelling. This is a good play, for those interested in reading good scripts or for directors and theater groups to consider for production.
A must-read for literature and theatre lovers alike... October 6, 2008
Megan Cunningham
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
By far one of the best plays I've read in a long time, maybe even since my love affair with 'Angels in America.' Bitingly funny and horribly tragic, I've yet to find one disappointed fellow reader of Letts' masterpiece.
Excellent Theatre! You'll feel like you're at one of your family reunions unfortunately! July 29, 2008
Sylviastel
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I normally don't go to the theater. Can you imagine spending a hundred bucks sitting cramped in a Broadway theater? I feel like I have better things to do and I can't afford the luxury of going to see Broadway shows but with August: Osage County is a masterpiece. When I decided to finally see the show in New York, I was saddened to learn that Tony Winner Deanna Dunagan (the original Violet Weston from Chicago and New York) and Tony nominee Amy Morton (the original Barbara Weston from Chicago and New York) had left the show. In fact, this show can be backbreaking just from reading this play. The story about Beverly Weston, an aspiring writer and professor, who lives with his pill-addicted wife, Violet Weston, in a house in Oklahoma without air-conditioning. Beverly opens the play up about his life and his problems. We hear Violet in the background and don't see much of her in the prologue. The prologue is followed by three acts. Beverly has disappeared in the first act which brings about a family reunion of Violet's sister, Mattie Sue, played by Tony winner Rondi Reed in both New York and Chicago productions and her husband Charlie. Beverly and Violet's three daughters, Barbara-the oldest, married and mother of Jean arrive with her husband and teenage daughter in tow and with a secret, Ivy who has stayed nearby also has a secret about her love life (don't worry she's not gay but that might be better than the truth) Ivy never married nor will she have children; and Karen who brings her fiance Steve from Florida. Unfortunately with everybody and the recently hired Indian housekeeper Johnna who moves into the house all have secrets from each other. Still this show is really about the women characters who are realistic and multi-dimensional. We have rarely seen a show about women written by a man, Tracy Letts, directed by a woman, Anna Shapiro who all won Tonys. As this show goes to London with the original Violet, Deanna Dunagan, and the original Barbara, Amy Morton (both Steppenwolf players) in November, I encourage everybody in the London area who are theater buffs. I'm sure that somebody like Dame Judi Dench could take on Violet Weston but I would have given anything to have seen Deanna in this role. I began researching the history of Steppenwolf theater and the players like Rondi Reed who played Mattie Sue and won Tony for it. I feel like I can relate to the cast memebers. I am enthralled that this play was first about women who were complicated and well-developed. I didn't know Tracy Letts is a man. I just assumed he was a woman from his name but I am amazed at his insights into the female psyche in this play. It's kind of nice to see the men play second fiddle in the Weston home for a change.
Anyway I saw this play which is long and can be intense, reading the play beforehand allowed me to know what was going on and knew what to expect. The replacement cast included Oscar winner Estelle Parsons better known for her role as Roseanne and Jackie's mother on the Roseanne sitcom as the drug addicted Violet Weston. Parsons is incredible and she's in her eighties performing this difficult and challenging role. She deserves a Tony award for it. Elizabeth Ashley (Evening Shade) is playing Aunt Mattie Fae and she does a great job to the hilt in this role. Brian Kerwin does a double duty on daytime's One Life to Live and a supporting role as Steve, Karen's fiance. The three Weston sisters are all brilliantly played and perfectly casted. I was so lucky to get such good seats at a bargain of a ticket price. The play is worth watching as is reading it. I get terrible headaches because I'm usually stuck in small seats in the theatre but because I read the play and understood when the acts ended and what was going on. I felt I had the upper hand and I got to enjoy myself. The cast also included John Cullum as Beverley Weston who is only in the prologue of the play and his absence is largely felt in the three acts.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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