Civic Theatre opens its 2013 season with Tracy Lett's prize winning drama, 'August: Osage County.'
Charles Isherwoods New York Times review of the 2007 Broadway premier of August: Osage County called it, "A fraught, densely plotted saga of an Oklahoma clan in a state of near-apocalyptic meltdown" and "probably the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years."
August slammed onto Broadway just four months after its original production by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.
The critical acclaim for this dark tragic comedy climaxed when it won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008.
The play tracks the familial dynamics of three generations of the Weston family of Pawhuska, Oklahoma one sultry August.
Beverly and Violet Weston, an amazingly unhappily married couple of 30 years, are at the heart of a family entangled in a complex web of dysfunction which they skillfully employ to torture and prey on each other.
Beverly Weston is a once-famous poet and college professor with a drinking problem. His wife, Violet, is addicted to pain killers and dying of mouth cancer.
Beverly opens the play and establishes its bitter tone when he announces to the audience, "My wife takes pills and I drink. Thats the bargain we struck."
Then the fun truly begins when Beverly, beaten down by the marital discord with his wife, walks off into an August night never to return home.
After Beverly has been missing for five days, the Westons three daughters, Ivy, Barbara and Karen with their husband and families in tow, descend on the family homestead to support their mother. As the audience soon realizes, they bring anything other than support to their mother who they learn is the repository of the family secrets which she wields like weapons.
Violet reacts to the news of the discovery of Beverlys body in the usual manner. She swallows pills until she is incoherent and abuses everyone around her.
Then the family comes together after the funeral at the memorial dinner where anger, accusation and acrimony are the entrees. Twists, turns, and surprises abound as the play unfolds from there.
This play will keep you hooked wondering what is lurking around the next corner while it shocks, surprises and delights you.
August:Osage County is at Civic Theatre March 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 at 7:00 p.m. and March 10 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are $26.00 for adults and $23.00 for seniors and students.