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Interviews | December 15, 2009

Jill Owens: IMG The Powells.com Interview with Eoin Colfer

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eoincolferEoin Colfer is best known for his bestselling Artemis Fowl series, which inspires fanatical devotion in its fans. Entertainment Weekly raved: "The... Continue »
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August: Osage County

by Tracy Letts

August: Osage County Cover

Awards

2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
2008 Tony Award for Best Play
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Review:

"August is the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years." The New York Times

Review:

"A tremendous achievement in American playwriting: a tragicomic populist portrait of a tough land and a tougher people." David Cote, TimeOut New York

Review:

"Letts' astonishing creation...is mammoth in many ways. It's a full, three-act evening, more than three hours in length. And there are 13 characters, each getting Letts' full attention. He creates a parade of memorable people spanning several generations of unhappiness and unfulfilled dreams. August: Osage County has introduced a major playwright to Broadway." Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press

Review:

"This fusion of epic tragedy and black comedy is...a bold step forward for Letts, whose earthy, distinctly contemporary wit flows throughout. Originally presented at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, his account of a family whose secrets and lies come spilling forth under duress ranks with the best American drama of the past decade." Elysa Gardner, USA Today
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About the Author

Tracy Letts is the author of Killer Joe, Bug, and Man From Nebraska, which was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where August: Osage County premiered.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Yonathan, March 17, 2009 (view all comments by Yonathan)
A dilapidated, one hundred year-old farmhouse on the plains outside Tulsa has been the home of the Weston family for generations, and Beverly Weston, the family patriarch, has long found refuge in alcohol. His termagant wife Violet takes pills, whatever pills she can lay hands on, and the two have little in common and have not really communicated for years. Bev, who once published a collection of poetry, now spends time quoting T. S. Eliot, and Eliot's line that "Life is very long..." serves as a motto for Bev in his life. Bev's Prologue sets the tone for the play, and when Act One begins, Bev has disappeared. The family has gathered to support each other while they await news on his whereabouts.

A dysfunctional family which represents just about every problem a family can have, the Westons who have gathered are the three daughters of Bev and Violet, along with Violet's sister Mattie Fay, her husband, and adult son. Barbara, at forty-six the eldest of the Westons' children, has arrived with her husband and precocious fourteen-year-old daughter. Ivy Weston, age forty-four, is unmarried, constantly resisting her mother's meddlesome probing and her cruel remarks about catching a man. Karen Weston, the youngest, at forty, has brought her fifty-year-old fiancé with her. In the course of the three hours or more of this play, the family, overwhelmed by the selfish mean-spiritedness Violet, reveals and/or deals with their self-destructive behavior on all levels--from addictions, unhappy marriages, and infidelity, to sadism, suicide, pedophilia, and even incest.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781559363303
Subtitle:
Osage County
Author:
Letts, Tracy
Publisher:
Theatre Communications Group
Subject:
Family
Subject:
Parent and adult child
Subject:
American
Subject:
General Drama
Publication Date:
February 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
138
Dimensions:
8.51x5.69x.38 in. .46 lbs.
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