Building the original set at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago the director is Ann Shapiro and is 2007blog.steppenwolf.org
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Building Augsut:Osage County
Building the original set at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago the director is Ann Shapiro and is 2007blog.steppenwolf.org
Reviews of August:Osage County
A Fiery New Incarnation of a Monster of a Mother
The followng is a review from the New York times
·
theater2.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/theater/reviews/16osag.html
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
Published: July 16, 2008
It’s really not a good idea to mess with Violet Weston, the fire-breathing dragon lady of Pawhuska, Okla., who presides over a feast of family combat in “August: Osage County.” As all who have seen Tracy Letts’s celebrated comedy-drama on Broadway no doubt vividly recall, Violet does not brook much interference when it comes to indulging her favorite pastimes.
Skip to next paragraph
Raise an objection to that eviscerating commentary on her daughter’s looks and you are likely to find your own being mercilessly dissected. Delicately suggest that she refrain from airing the family’s dirtiest laundry over dinner and you will be subjected to eyebrow-singeing bursts of invective.
Oh, and don’t even think of getting between Violet and the little bottles of pills she pops like Tic Tacs. That would be a sure way to lose a limb.
Violet is a maternal monster on an outrageous scale, but she is also one of the most spellbinding characters in memory to stalk a Broadway stage. So it is good news to report that Estelle Parsons, the venerable actress who has taken over this demanding role from the Tony Award-winning Deanna Dunagan, has had the good sense not to mess with her much.
THEATER REVIEW
'August' is only more intense as it opens on Broadway
By Chris Jones Tribune theater critic
December 5, 2007
Moreover, this "August" is a different deal. This is Broadway. The leading actors are women. As the story of three middle-age sisters forced to return to their parents' Oklahoma home after their father's disappearance, this is the commissioned work of an in-sync house playwright Steppenwolf never had before. "August" won't confirm the Steppenwolf mystique so much as retool it.Letts has written a grand, old three-act family drama of epic scale and ambition, replete with numerous nods to Eugene O'Neill and Lillian Hellman. He begins his play with the disappearance of Beverly Weston (Dennis Letts), a drunken academic. His three adult daughters -- played by Morton, Sally Murphy and Marianne Mayberry -- return home to their pill-popping mother, Violet (Dunagan), to try and figure out why Beverly is gone. Violet's sister Mattie Fae (Rondi Reed) is there too. And these women all come hitched to either an immoral or a dysfunctional man. Or both.
www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-080224augustnyc-story,0,7005888.story -
PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: August: Osage County — Deliriously Dysfunctional
By Harry Haun06 Dec 2007
The family skeletons are dancing as fast as they can in August: Osage County, a graceful swan-dive into domestic donnybrooks which landed with a major critical splash at the Imperial Dec. 4.
Rarely, they say, has home, hearth and hell been so hilariously served.
Familial in-fighting has produced some famous American plays, and this new addition demonstrates how the gritty has gone to giddy — from The Little Foxes and Long Day's Journey Into Night to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Delicate Balance. Humor battling for life amid the billowing chaos is what Tracy Letts has brought to this genre, and it transforms this familiar terrain into something quite fresh and — startlingly! — funny.
He wrote, if not sculptured, this opus to the talents of his fellow actors in Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company — and then let 13 of them duke it out, refereed artfully by troupe director Anna D. Shapiro.
www.playbill.com/features/article/113338.html - 55k
Originally posted: July 9, 2007
Steppenwolf's 'August: Osage County' a blast of truth, sin from Tracy Letts
Written by Chris Jones for the Chicago Tribune
THEATER REVIEW
Given his lip-smacking relish for the agonizing unveiling of familial pain, it's doubtful that Tracy Letts will be declared the official playwright of the state of Oklahoma any time soon. The Sooners already gave their hearts to that romantic 1943 musical set within their nascent borders, and nobody will want to see "August: Osage County" performed in the Tulsa schools.
But with this staggeringly ambitious — and, for my money, staggeringly successful — three-act domestic opus for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Letts has penned a major, not-to-be-missed new American work that eulogizes the perversely nurturing dysfunction of family life on the Plains as surely as it skewers the arid absurdities of its underpinning. And with the help of director Anna D. Shapiro, Letts has built a vehicle for the great Chicago actress Deanna Dunagan, who plays the caustic Weston family matriarch, presiding over a grown trio of sisters who've rushed home to Pawhuska to find out why their father, a sometime writer and constant drinker, has suddenly disappeared. Popping pills, telling truths and exploding her kids' inadequate defenses, Dunagan spits out the kind of brilliantly acidic performance that will be remembered in this town for years to come.
leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2007/07/at-steppenwolf-.html - 74k
The link below is a review from a blog written by Steve
called Steve on Broadway
steveonbroadway.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-osage-county-sob-review.html - 35k
Sunday, August 19, 2007
August: Osage County (The SOB Review)
August: Osage County (The SOB Review) - Downstairs Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago, IL**** (out of ****)As regular readers know, I employ a four-star system to rate the live stage productions I see. Four stars are strictly reserved for the best of the best.However, if I could defy my own rules, I'd give August: Osage County five stars. Under the exceptionally sure and steady guiding hand of Anna D. Shapiro, it's that hot of a show. And the direction isn't the only thing that's sweltering on the stage.By far the best-written, best-acted play I've ever seen at Chicago's Steppenwolf -- and that's no small feat -- August: Osage County is ensemble member Tracy Letts' masterpiece.It's mesmerizing.To say it's the most excellent stage production I've seen this year would be a gross understatement.While it would be far too easy to think of this as some modern-day version of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, the three-hour, 20-minute family saga is at once chilling and funny. Letts, an Okahoma native, ingeniously paints a picture of life that's both bleak and vital in the immense, rural area to the northwest of Tulsa where temperatures easily soar in the eighth month of each year.August: Osage County centers on a heavy-drinking poet Beverly Weston (Dennis Letts, the playwright's father, in a subtle poignant portrayal who haunts the play long after his lone appearance) and his venomous drug-addled wife Violet (a breathtakingly potent Deanna Dunagan, pictured, in
A CurtainUp Review
August: Osage County
By Elyse Sommer
It's a damn fine day to tell the truth!.— Not everyone would agree with the high on pills Violet that a funeral dinner is the ideal time for serving up accusations and painful secrets.
Deanna Dunagan as Violet Weston(Photo by Joan Marcus) Yes, "life is very long. . . "(to quote T.S. Elliott, via family patriarch Beverly Weston) and, yes, so is August: Osage County (as noted by our Chicago critic Larry Bommer). But long isn't a bad thing. A boring ninety-minute, intermissionless play can seem endless. But the more than three hours fly by in this terrific three acter a by Tracy Letts, with its bakers' dozen of fully rounded, damaged characters portrayed by a group of the Chicago Steppenwolf Theatre Company's finest actors. Unlike Letts' raunchy thrillers, Killer Joe and Bugs, August: Osage County belongs to a long line of memorable plays about dysfunctional families whose members fight their weaknesses (booze, drugs, depression, adultery, guilt) and each other. Think Long Day's Journey into Night The Little Foxes, Crimes of the Heart, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Death of a Salesman. But expect a completely unique and distinctive addition to this genre. The plot device that brings the Weston clan to Todd Rosenthal's exquisitely detailed three-story house outside Pawhuska, Oklaoma maybe almost too facile, but it works. Beverly Weston (Dennis Letts, the author's father) gets the first scene which prepares us for the familiar but forever shocking emotional baggage to be unpacked. In what amounts to a long monologue, Beverly interviews Johanna Monevata (Kimberly Guerrero), a young Indian woman, for a job as housekeeper for the ramshackle house and as caretaker for his pill-addicted, cancer stricken wife Violet (a riveting no-holds barred Deanna Dunagan). The old-fashioned three-story dollhouse set can easily lull us into thinking we might be wrong to anticipate that Letts will roll out of a barrel full of Weston woes. But this is at best momentary. Even before that digressive opening scene interview is over, Violet Weston descends the circular staircase, a delicate looking woman, whose bent-over walk is as painful to watch as it must feel. Pain and regret have given her tongue an extra-sharp razor's edge (an ironic metaphor, given that it's mouth cancer she's suffering from).
www.curtainup.com/augustosageny.html - 19k
The followng is a review from the New York times
·
theater2.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/theater/reviews/16osag.html
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
Published: July 16, 2008
It’s really not a good idea to mess with Violet Weston, the fire-breathing dragon lady of Pawhuska, Okla., who presides over a feast of family combat in “August: Osage County.” As all who have seen Tracy Letts’s celebrated comedy-drama on Broadway no doubt vividly recall, Violet does not brook much interference when it comes to indulging her favorite pastimes.
Skip to next paragraph
Raise an objection to that eviscerating commentary on her daughter’s looks and you are likely to find your own being mercilessly dissected. Delicately suggest that she refrain from airing the family’s dirtiest laundry over dinner and you will be subjected to eyebrow-singeing bursts of invective.
Oh, and don’t even think of getting between Violet and the little bottles of pills she pops like Tic Tacs. That would be a sure way to lose a limb.
Violet is a maternal monster on an outrageous scale, but she is also one of the most spellbinding characters in memory to stalk a Broadway stage. So it is good news to report that Estelle Parsons, the venerable actress who has taken over this demanding role from the Tony Award-winning Deanna Dunagan, has had the good sense not to mess with her much.
THEATER REVIEW
'August' is only more intense as it opens on Broadway
By Chris Jones Tribune theater critic
December 5, 2007
Moreover, this "August" is a different deal. This is Broadway. The leading actors are women. As the story of three middle-age sisters forced to return to their parents' Oklahoma home after their father's disappearance, this is the commissioned work of an in-sync house playwright Steppenwolf never had before. "August" won't confirm the Steppenwolf mystique so much as retool it.Letts has written a grand, old three-act family drama of epic scale and ambition, replete with numerous nods to Eugene O'Neill and Lillian Hellman. He begins his play with the disappearance of Beverly Weston (Dennis Letts), a drunken academic. His three adult daughters -- played by Morton, Sally Murphy and Marianne Mayberry -- return home to their pill-popping mother, Violet (Dunagan), to try and figure out why Beverly is gone. Violet's sister Mattie Fae (Rondi Reed) is there too. And these women all come hitched to either an immoral or a dysfunctional man. Or both.
www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-080224augustnyc-story,0,7005888.story -
PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: August: Osage County — Deliriously Dysfunctional
By Harry Haun06 Dec 2007
The family skeletons are dancing as fast as they can in August: Osage County, a graceful swan-dive into domestic donnybrooks which landed with a major critical splash at the Imperial Dec. 4.
Rarely, they say, has home, hearth and hell been so hilariously served.
Familial in-fighting has produced some famous American plays, and this new addition demonstrates how the gritty has gone to giddy — from The Little Foxes and Long Day's Journey Into Night to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Delicate Balance. Humor battling for life amid the billowing chaos is what Tracy Letts has brought to this genre, and it transforms this familiar terrain into something quite fresh and — startlingly! — funny.
He wrote, if not sculptured, this opus to the talents of his fellow actors in Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company — and then let 13 of them duke it out, refereed artfully by troupe director Anna D. Shapiro.
www.playbill.com/features/article/113338.html - 55k
Originally posted: July 9, 2007
Steppenwolf's 'August: Osage County' a blast of truth, sin from Tracy Letts
Written by Chris Jones for the Chicago Tribune
THEATER REVIEW
Given his lip-smacking relish for the agonizing unveiling of familial pain, it's doubtful that Tracy Letts will be declared the official playwright of the state of Oklahoma any time soon. The Sooners already gave their hearts to that romantic 1943 musical set within their nascent borders, and nobody will want to see "August: Osage County" performed in the Tulsa schools.
But with this staggeringly ambitious — and, for my money, staggeringly successful — three-act domestic opus for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Letts has penned a major, not-to-be-missed new American work that eulogizes the perversely nurturing dysfunction of family life on the Plains as surely as it skewers the arid absurdities of its underpinning. And with the help of director Anna D. Shapiro, Letts has built a vehicle for the great Chicago actress Deanna Dunagan, who plays the caustic Weston family matriarch, presiding over a grown trio of sisters who've rushed home to Pawhuska to find out why their father, a sometime writer and constant drinker, has suddenly disappeared. Popping pills, telling truths and exploding her kids' inadequate defenses, Dunagan spits out the kind of brilliantly acidic performance that will be remembered in this town for years to come.
leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2007/07/at-steppenwolf-.html - 74k
The link below is a review from a blog written by Steve
called Steve on Broadway
steveonbroadway.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-osage-county-sob-review.html - 35k
Sunday, August 19, 2007
August: Osage County (The SOB Review)
August: Osage County (The SOB Review) - Downstairs Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago, IL**** (out of ****)As regular readers know, I employ a four-star system to rate the live stage productions I see. Four stars are strictly reserved for the best of the best.However, if I could defy my own rules, I'd give August: Osage County five stars. Under the exceptionally sure and steady guiding hand of Anna D. Shapiro, it's that hot of a show. And the direction isn't the only thing that's sweltering on the stage.By far the best-written, best-acted play I've ever seen at Chicago's Steppenwolf -- and that's no small feat -- August: Osage County is ensemble member Tracy Letts' masterpiece.It's mesmerizing.To say it's the most excellent stage production I've seen this year would be a gross understatement.While it would be far too easy to think of this as some modern-day version of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, the three-hour, 20-minute family saga is at once chilling and funny. Letts, an Okahoma native, ingeniously paints a picture of life that's both bleak and vital in the immense, rural area to the northwest of Tulsa where temperatures easily soar in the eighth month of each year.August: Osage County centers on a heavy-drinking poet Beverly Weston (Dennis Letts, the playwright's father, in a subtle poignant portrayal who haunts the play long after his lone appearance) and his venomous drug-addled wife Violet (a breathtakingly potent Deanna Dunagan, pictured, in
A CurtainUp Review
August: Osage County
By Elyse Sommer
It's a damn fine day to tell the truth!.— Not everyone would agree with the high on pills Violet that a funeral dinner is the ideal time for serving up accusations and painful secrets.
Deanna Dunagan as Violet Weston(Photo by Joan Marcus) Yes, "life is very long. . . "(to quote T.S. Elliott, via family patriarch Beverly Weston) and, yes, so is August: Osage County (as noted by our Chicago critic Larry Bommer). But long isn't a bad thing. A boring ninety-minute, intermissionless play can seem endless. But the more than three hours fly by in this terrific three acter a by Tracy Letts, with its bakers' dozen of fully rounded, damaged characters portrayed by a group of the Chicago Steppenwolf Theatre Company's finest actors. Unlike Letts' raunchy thrillers, Killer Joe and Bugs, August: Osage County belongs to a long line of memorable plays about dysfunctional families whose members fight their weaknesses (booze, drugs, depression, adultery, guilt) and each other. Think Long Day's Journey into Night The Little Foxes, Crimes of the Heart, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Death of a Salesman. But expect a completely unique and distinctive addition to this genre. The plot device that brings the Weston clan to Todd Rosenthal's exquisitely detailed three-story house outside Pawhuska, Oklaoma maybe almost too facile, but it works. Beverly Weston (Dennis Letts, the author's father) gets the first scene which prepares us for the familiar but forever shocking emotional baggage to be unpacked. In what amounts to a long monologue, Beverly interviews Johanna Monevata (Kimberly Guerrero), a young Indian woman, for a job as housekeeper for the ramshackle house and as caretaker for his pill-addicted, cancer stricken wife Violet (a riveting no-holds barred Deanna Dunagan). The old-fashioned three-story dollhouse set can easily lull us into thinking we might be wrong to anticipate that Letts will roll out of a barrel full of Weston woes. But this is at best momentary. Even before that digressive opening scene interview is over, Violet Weston descends the circular staircase, a delicate looking woman, whose bent-over walk is as painful to watch as it must feel. Pain and regret have given her tongue an extra-sharp razor's edge (an ironic metaphor, given that it's mouth cancer she's suffering from).
www.curtainup.com/augustosageny.html - 19k
Production History
August: Osage County is a new play that hit the scenes in June of 2007. With such a brief production history having only played at three theatres I will contribute how the play was brought to life.
The play was written by Tracy Letts who is a member of the ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre located in Chicago, Il. Steppenwolf is committed to the development and production of new work. Through its New Plays Initiative, Tracy Letts has created all of his plays. Through reading and workshops, the ensemble members helped develop August: Osage County and launch its debut June 28th- August 26th 2007. The ensemble members served as producer for this production.
Featuring ensemble members:
Ian Barford
Francis Guinan
Mariann Mayberry
Amy Morton
Sally Murphy
Jeff Perry
Rondi Reed
Rick Snyder
With:
Deanna Dunagan
Kimberly Guerrero
Fawn Johnstin
Dennis Letts
Troy West
DESIGNERS, AUTHORS & CREW
Author: ensemble member Tracy LettsDirected by: ensemble member Anna D. ShapiroScenic Design: Todd RosenthalCostume Design: Ana KuzmanicLighting Design: Ann WrightsonOriginal Music: David SingerSound Design: Richard WoodburyStage Manager: Deb StyerAssistant Stage Manager: Michelle MedvinDramaturg: Edward Sobel
August: Osage County moved to Broadway after it closed in Chicago.
It played at the Imperial Theatre located on 45th Street in New York City.
The began with previews on October 30th opening on November 20th with a sixteen week limited engagement. The producer is Jeffrey Richards and the cast members remained the same from the original in Chicago
It moved to the Music Box Theatre on March 2, 2008 and the cast member that changed are Estelle Parsons as Violet, Frank Wood as Bill, Jim Frost as Little Charles, Molly Regan as Mattie Fae and Robert Foxworth as Uncle Charlie. The rest remained the same and it still is currently running.
The orginal cast will join again when they take August Osage County to London. The first time in 20 years Steppenwolf has been back.
A world tour is scheduled for September 2009 starting in San Francisco
The production that is most notable would the orignal in Chicagos Steppenwolf. It was met with great reviews and patrons of the theatre knew this would go on. The whole process of the ensemble members that helped bring this play to fruition is amazing. It is not often that actors get to participate in a creation of a new work and take it to Broadway. The whole process is truly an artistic format. That most people would relish in being a part of.
The play was written by Tracy Letts who is a member of the ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre located in Chicago, Il. Steppenwolf is committed to the development and production of new work. Through its New Plays Initiative, Tracy Letts has created all of his plays. Through reading and workshops, the ensemble members helped develop August: Osage County and launch its debut June 28th- August 26th 2007. The ensemble members served as producer for this production.
Featuring ensemble members:
Ian Barford
Francis Guinan
Mariann Mayberry
Amy Morton
Sally Murphy
Jeff Perry
Rondi Reed
Rick Snyder
With:
Deanna Dunagan
Kimberly Guerrero
Fawn Johnstin
Dennis Letts
Troy West
DESIGNERS, AUTHORS & CREW
Author: ensemble member Tracy LettsDirected by: ensemble member Anna D. ShapiroScenic Design: Todd RosenthalCostume Design: Ana KuzmanicLighting Design: Ann WrightsonOriginal Music: David SingerSound Design: Richard WoodburyStage Manager: Deb StyerAssistant Stage Manager: Michelle MedvinDramaturg: Edward Sobel
August: Osage County moved to Broadway after it closed in Chicago.
It played at the Imperial Theatre located on 45th Street in New York City.
The began with previews on October 30th opening on November 20th with a sixteen week limited engagement. The producer is Jeffrey Richards and the cast members remained the same from the original in Chicago
It moved to the Music Box Theatre on March 2, 2008 and the cast member that changed are Estelle Parsons as Violet, Frank Wood as Bill, Jim Frost as Little Charles, Molly Regan as Mattie Fae and Robert Foxworth as Uncle Charlie. The rest remained the same and it still is currently running.
The orginal cast will join again when they take August Osage County to London. The first time in 20 years Steppenwolf has been back.
A world tour is scheduled for September 2009 starting in San Francisco
The production that is most notable would the orignal in Chicagos Steppenwolf. It was met with great reviews and patrons of the theatre knew this would go on. The whole process of the ensemble members that helped bring this play to fruition is amazing. It is not often that actors get to participate in a creation of a new work and take it to Broadway. The whole process is truly an artistic format. That most people would relish in being a part of.
Friday, July 25, 2008
The World Of The Play:Space
The families favorite recreation http://www.fade.org.nz/images/alcohol-drug-info-pic.png
Got to love the night life in Pawhuska
This is a picture of the library at Tulsa University
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgthornhill/142424656/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtneer_man/2359361567
Lake Pawhuska where Beverly took his life
http://www.flickr.com/photos/idswart/252386163/ 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79704578@N00/1798541574/ 
Violets cocktail of choice
Got to love the night life in Pawhuska
Red dirt road on the Osage Indian Reservation
http://www.chopperbruce.com/tat/010.jpg
This is a picture of the library at Tulsa Universityhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dgthornhill/142424656/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtneer_man/2359361567Lake Pawhuska where Beverly took his life
Buffalo roaming the praries
The eary tranquility of the praries
http://www.flickr.com/photos/idswart/252386163/ The booming metropolis of Pawhuska
The county court house
This is a picture of home similar to that of the Westons in Pawhuska.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79704578@N00/1798541574/ This is the open prarie that surrounds Pawhuska. This give you a sense of the lonliness
This is the orginal set of August: Osage County
The World Of The Play: SOUND
The music in August:Osage County should be reflective of the Plains where they live and this best can be described in the following dialogue:
Barbara: This is the Plains: a state of mind, right, some spiritual afflication, like the Blues.
Bill: “Are you okay?” “I’m fine. Just got the Plains.”
The plains is in Americas Heartland and the music should capture that world. This is where Woody Gutherie is from and there should be a blues and folk element present.
The following musical selections are from Jimmy LaFave. His family later moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he finished high school. Although he has lived in Austin for nearly 20 years, many people think of him as being from Oklahoma, because of his strong musical ties to the state and what he often refers to as its “red dirt music.” It was in this landscape that he began to define his sound and soak up a combination of his experiences among authentic songwriters from the tradition of Woody Guthrie.
The following are from Blue Night Fall:
Revival
In a strange way the Westons are having a Revival during the play and are tryin to bring back their own life.
Bohemian Cowboy Blues
I feel this song is remnant of Beverlys state of mind.
Its Gone
In this song he describes life on the prarie and life between the Indians and White Man.
The CD can be purchased from CD Universe. You can also listen to the songs on the link below.
www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6824982/a/Blue+Nightfall.htm
The lyrics are below.
www.jimmylafave.com/lyrics/lyrics.html - 130k
Oklahoma Hills:
The song was originally written by Woody Gutherie but I chose to do the version from Jimmy La Fave. It has a bit of a modern twist on an old story.
www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/oklahoma-hills.shtml - 3k
The CD can be purchased below
www.amazon.com/Trail-Jimmy-LaFave/dp/B00000HYWI - 238k
The next songs are from the Flatlanders Now Again CD
The Song are:
Now It's Now Again
This gives a good description to of the relationship with Beverly and Violet and their whole family.
I Thought the Wreck Was Over
This song reminds me of Violet and her tyrannical rages. They all brase themselves but it always is a train wreck waiting to happen.
Going Away
They all want to go away from where they are. This has a great lonesome feeling.
music.yahoo.com/The-Flatlanders/Now-Its-Now-Again/lyrics/2022766
The CD can be purchased at CD Universe and you can also listen to some samples of the songs at the following link.
www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/3433449/a/Now+Again.htm - 53k
The following artist really capture the lonely feeling of the plains and would create a nice mood with their music.
Barbara: This is the Plains: a state of mind, right, some spiritual afflication, like the Blues.
Bill: “Are you okay?” “I’m fine. Just got the Plains.”
The plains is in Americas Heartland and the music should capture that world. This is where Woody Gutherie is from and there should be a blues and folk element present.
The following musical selections are from Jimmy LaFave. His family later moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he finished high school. Although he has lived in Austin for nearly 20 years, many people think of him as being from Oklahoma, because of his strong musical ties to the state and what he often refers to as its “red dirt music.” It was in this landscape that he began to define his sound and soak up a combination of his experiences among authentic songwriters from the tradition of Woody Guthrie.
The following are from Blue Night Fall:
Revival
In a strange way the Westons are having a Revival during the play and are tryin to bring back their own life.
Bohemian Cowboy Blues
I feel this song is remnant of Beverlys state of mind.
Its Gone
In this song he describes life on the prarie and life between the Indians and White Man.
The CD can be purchased from CD Universe. You can also listen to the songs on the link below.
www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6824982/a/Blue+Nightfall.htm
The lyrics are below.
www.jimmylafave.com/lyrics/lyrics.html - 130k
Oklahoma Hills:
The song was originally written by Woody Gutherie but I chose to do the version from Jimmy La Fave. It has a bit of a modern twist on an old story.
www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/oklahoma-hills.shtml - 3k
The CD can be purchased below
www.amazon.com/Trail-Jimmy-LaFave/dp/B00000HYWI - 238k
The next songs are from the Flatlanders Now Again CD
The Song are:
Now It's Now Again
This gives a good description to of the relationship with Beverly and Violet and their whole family.
I Thought the Wreck Was Over
This song reminds me of Violet and her tyrannical rages. They all brase themselves but it always is a train wreck waiting to happen.
Going Away
They all want to go away from where they are. This has a great lonesome feeling.
music.yahoo.com/The-Flatlanders/Now-Its-Now-Again/lyrics/2022766
The CD can be purchased at CD Universe and you can also listen to some samples of the songs at the following link.
www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/3433449/a/Now+Again.htm - 53k
The following artist really capture the lonely feeling of the plains and would create a nice mood with their music.
The World Of The Play:Time
The time is August 2007 in Pawhuska, Oklahoma sixty miles northwest of Tulsa. There is not a particular day set in August. Time has become irrelevant to Beverly and Violet Weston. Below is a link to learn more about Pawhuska
http://www.pawhuskachamber.com/
The Pawhuska Journal Capital is the local newspaper. Click on the link below and go to archives to read about happenings in Pawhuska during August 2007.
http://www.pawhuskajournalcapital.com/
A total lunar eclipse occurred August 27, 2007 lasting over 90 minutes the longest and deepest in over 7 years. Below is a link to an interview on NPR with playwright Tracy Letts and his father. This gives an insight to the life of the Westons and how he devloped the play.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId
The "Weston Clan" is a symbol of the decaying Middle Class American family. You can draw a symbol of what unfortunate encounter happened to the Native American to what is going on in their life. The children have all moved away except for Ivy. When the children start moving away the family generally starts to deteriorate.
Johnna Monevata is the Indian housekeeper that Beverly hires. Below is a link to the Osage Nation to better understand her world.
http://www.osagetribe.com/
The Weston family values Education. Beverly was a professor and poet. All of the girls graduated from college and Barbara is even a Professor at University of Colorado in Boulder. Education was their freedom from the stillness of the plains.
It also is important to know a little about Boulder, Colorado because this is where Barbara, Bill and their Jean live. They are very open with their daughter who is 15 and openly smokes cigarettes and pot in front of her parents. Boulder is a very liberal city and most likely if they lived in Oklahoma Jeans life would be much different.
http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/
The whole family loves mind altering substances whether it is pill, booze or pot. This is main ingrediant to Beverly and Violets relationship. In the prologue Beverly states: " My wife takes pill and I drink. That's the bargain we've struck.." Not able to deal with the harsh reality they escape daily through some substance. Violet even refers to her pill as "my best friend and they never let me down!".
They love poetry constantly quoting various poets. The family certainly represents your stereotypical frustrated poet.
For the older women Violet and Mattie Fae the role of the women are traditional mother and wife. Violet could not deal with life once all her chicks flew the coop. Mattie Fae created a situation that would not allow her son to leave home. No one wants to be alone on the plains.
The world that shaped the Westons was also Tulsa University. Tulsa is known as "little Austin" in Oklahoma. The more liberal free thinkers dwell in Tulsa. The Weston in their "day" were the family that people envied in Pawhuska. It is important to understand the role of a professor and wife when your husband at one point was a well known Poet.
http://www.utulsa.edu/
Despite all their antics a value of traditional america is an underlying tone they talk of baseball. and fishing. They eat Apple Pie, Chicken , Greenbean Casserole and potatoes. This is important because the world they so badly wanted to escape is the one that provides them comfort.
http://www.pawhuskachamber.com/
The Pawhuska Journal Capital is the local newspaper. Click on the link below and go to archives to read about happenings in Pawhuska during August 2007.
http://www.pawhuskajournalcapital.com/
A total lunar eclipse occurred August 27, 2007 lasting over 90 minutes the longest and deepest in over 7 years. Below is a link to an interview on NPR with playwright Tracy Letts and his father. This gives an insight to the life of the Westons and how he devloped the play.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId
The "Weston Clan" is a symbol of the decaying Middle Class American family. You can draw a symbol of what unfortunate encounter happened to the Native American to what is going on in their life. The children have all moved away except for Ivy. When the children start moving away the family generally starts to deteriorate.
Johnna Monevata is the Indian housekeeper that Beverly hires. Below is a link to the Osage Nation to better understand her world.
http://www.osagetribe.com/
The Weston family values Education. Beverly was a professor and poet. All of the girls graduated from college and Barbara is even a Professor at University of Colorado in Boulder. Education was their freedom from the stillness of the plains.
It also is important to know a little about Boulder, Colorado because this is where Barbara, Bill and their Jean live. They are very open with their daughter who is 15 and openly smokes cigarettes and pot in front of her parents. Boulder is a very liberal city and most likely if they lived in Oklahoma Jeans life would be much different.
http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/
The whole family loves mind altering substances whether it is pill, booze or pot. This is main ingrediant to Beverly and Violets relationship. In the prologue Beverly states: " My wife takes pill and I drink. That's the bargain we've struck.." Not able to deal with the harsh reality they escape daily through some substance. Violet even refers to her pill as "my best friend and they never let me down!".
They love poetry constantly quoting various poets. The family certainly represents your stereotypical frustrated poet.
For the older women Violet and Mattie Fae the role of the women are traditional mother and wife. Violet could not deal with life once all her chicks flew the coop. Mattie Fae created a situation that would not allow her son to leave home. No one wants to be alone on the plains.
The world that shaped the Westons was also Tulsa University. Tulsa is known as "little Austin" in Oklahoma. The more liberal free thinkers dwell in Tulsa. The Weston in their "day" were the family that people envied in Pawhuska. It is important to understand the role of a professor and wife when your husband at one point was a well known Poet.
http://www.utulsa.edu/
Despite all their antics a value of traditional america is an underlying tone they talk of baseball. and fishing. They eat Apple Pie, Chicken , Greenbean Casserole and potatoes. This is important because the world they so badly wanted to escape is the one that provides them comfort.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The fact of Characters in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
Beverly Weston
The Father and Patriarch of the Weston family aged 69. An alcoholic and former poet, his mysterious disappearance one evening and eventually discovered death is the reasons for the family's reunion. The reasons for his alleged suicide are a major plot point that brings some of the family's dark past painfully back into the light.
Violet Weston
The Mother and Matriarch of the Weston family aged 65. She is addicted to several prescription drugs, mostly depressants and narcotics. After Beverly's funeral, the family's focus shifts to keeping her clean. Despite her drug-induced episodes, she is sharp-tongued and shrewd: she is aware of the family's many secrets and not hesitant to reveal them.
Barbara Fordham
The oldest daughter of the Weston Family, age 46. Mother of Jean and wife of Bill, though they are currently separated. She is a college professor in Boulder, Colorado. She wants to save her marriage, but has the intense need to control everything around her as it falls apart.
Ivy Weston
The middle daughter of the Weston family, age 44. Known as "Mom's favorite," though Violet constantly tells her she's plain and needs a man. The only daughter to stay in Oklahoma, she teaches at the local college. She is secretly having an affair with her "cousin," Little Charles, and plans to move to New York with him.
Karen Weston
The youngest daughter in the Weston family, age 40. She is newly engaged to Steve, whom she considers the "perfect man," and lives with him in Florida, planning to marry him soon.
Bill Fordham
Barbara's estranged husband and Jean's father, age 49. A college professor who is sleeping with one of his students, but wants to be there for his family.
Jean Fordham
Bill and Barbara's 14-year-old daughter. She smokes pot and cigarettes, is a vegetarian, loves old movies, and is bitter about her parents' split.
Steve Heidebrecht
Karen's fiancé, age 50. A businessman in Florida, and not the "perfect man" that Karen calls him. He eventually sexually molests Jean after the two smoke pot together.
Mattie Fae Aiken
Violet's sister, Charlie's wife and Little Charles' mother, age 57. Just as jaded as her sister, Mattie Fae belittles her husband and son. Eventually she reveals the major plot point that Beverly, not Charlie, is the real father of Little Charles.
Charlie Aiken
Husband of Mattie and the presumed father of Little Charles, age 60. Charlie, a genial man, was a lifelong friend of Beverly. He struggles to get Mattie Fae to respect Little Charles.
Little Charles
Son of Mattie and Beverly, 37 years old--but, like everyone else, he believes Charlie is his father. His mother calls him a "screw-up," which may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. He is secretly having an affair with his "cousin" Ivy, who is revealed to actually be his sister.
Johnna Monevata
A Cheyenne Indian woman, age 26, whom Beverly hires as a live-in housekeeper shortly before he disappears. Violet is prejudiced against her, but she wins over the other family members with her cooking skills, hard work, and empathy.
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau
A high-school classmate and former boyfriend of Barbara's, age 47, who brings the news to the family about the investigation of Beverly's disappearance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August:_Osage_County
CASTING:
I feel that non-traditional casting of the characters would not be appropriate. An argument could be based on the issues this dysfunctional family experience drug abuse, alcoholism, suicide, death, sexual harassment, racism, incest and can still maintain the ability to love one another on the notion of “unconditional love” could be placed with many families in America. However, one must look beyond the obvious and look at the culture that shaped the Weston family and how they evolved into this " Prima Donna" family in Pawhuska, OK.
Pawhuska is predominately Anglo with about a 25% Native American and little if none other ethnic background is represented in the demographics. There are far too many references in the script that would not make since to the audience if cast non-traditionally. I also feel it is important to stay true to the Playwrights intentions. Tracy Letts was born and raised in this area and he dedicated the play to his father who also was a professor at Tulsa University. His father also played Beverly in the Broadway production.
The Father and Patriarch of the Weston family aged 69. An alcoholic and former poet, his mysterious disappearance one evening and eventually discovered death is the reasons for the family's reunion. The reasons for his alleged suicide are a major plot point that brings some of the family's dark past painfully back into the light.
Violet Weston
The Mother and Matriarch of the Weston family aged 65. She is addicted to several prescription drugs, mostly depressants and narcotics. After Beverly's funeral, the family's focus shifts to keeping her clean. Despite her drug-induced episodes, she is sharp-tongued and shrewd: she is aware of the family's many secrets and not hesitant to reveal them.
Barbara Fordham
The oldest daughter of the Weston Family, age 46. Mother of Jean and wife of Bill, though they are currently separated. She is a college professor in Boulder, Colorado. She wants to save her marriage, but has the intense need to control everything around her as it falls apart.
Ivy Weston
The middle daughter of the Weston family, age 44. Known as "Mom's favorite," though Violet constantly tells her she's plain and needs a man. The only daughter to stay in Oklahoma, she teaches at the local college. She is secretly having an affair with her "cousin," Little Charles, and plans to move to New York with him.
Karen Weston
The youngest daughter in the Weston family, age 40. She is newly engaged to Steve, whom she considers the "perfect man," and lives with him in Florida, planning to marry him soon.
Bill Fordham
Barbara's estranged husband and Jean's father, age 49. A college professor who is sleeping with one of his students, but wants to be there for his family.
Jean Fordham
Bill and Barbara's 14-year-old daughter. She smokes pot and cigarettes, is a vegetarian, loves old movies, and is bitter about her parents' split.
Steve Heidebrecht
Karen's fiancé, age 50. A businessman in Florida, and not the "perfect man" that Karen calls him. He eventually sexually molests Jean after the two smoke pot together.
Mattie Fae Aiken
Violet's sister, Charlie's wife and Little Charles' mother, age 57. Just as jaded as her sister, Mattie Fae belittles her husband and son. Eventually she reveals the major plot point that Beverly, not Charlie, is the real father of Little Charles.
Charlie Aiken
Husband of Mattie and the presumed father of Little Charles, age 60. Charlie, a genial man, was a lifelong friend of Beverly. He struggles to get Mattie Fae to respect Little Charles.
Little Charles
Son of Mattie and Beverly, 37 years old--but, like everyone else, he believes Charlie is his father. His mother calls him a "screw-up," which may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. He is secretly having an affair with his "cousin" Ivy, who is revealed to actually be his sister.
Johnna Monevata
A Cheyenne Indian woman, age 26, whom Beverly hires as a live-in housekeeper shortly before he disappears. Violet is prejudiced against her, but she wins over the other family members with her cooking skills, hard work, and empathy.
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau
A high-school classmate and former boyfriend of Barbara's, age 47, who brings the news to the family about the investigation of Beverly's disappearance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August:_Osage_County
CASTING:
I feel that non-traditional casting of the characters would not be appropriate. An argument could be based on the issues this dysfunctional family experience drug abuse, alcoholism, suicide, death, sexual harassment, racism, incest and can still maintain the ability to love one another on the notion of “unconditional love” could be placed with many families in America. However, one must look beyond the obvious and look at the culture that shaped the Weston family and how they evolved into this " Prima Donna" family in Pawhuska, OK.
Pawhuska is predominately Anglo with about a 25% Native American and little if none other ethnic background is represented in the demographics. There are far too many references in the script that would not make since to the audience if cast non-traditionally. I also feel it is important to stay true to the Playwrights intentions. Tracy Letts was born and raised in this area and he dedicated the play to his father who also was a professor at Tulsa University. His father also played Beverly in the Broadway production.
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