August: Osage County
by Tracy Letts

Name: August: Osage County
Brand: Tracy Letts
SKU: 9780822223009
Rating: 4.14 (406 reviews)

Broadway West End

August: Osage County Book Cover — August: Osage County Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

120 mins Present Day Ensemble Cast Role(s) for Teen(s) Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle) Interior Set Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes Comedy

Awards & Recognition

Drama Desk Award Olivier Award Pulitzer Prize Tony Award

Winner! 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner! Five 2008 Tony Awards, including Best Play Winner! Three 2008 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Play Nominee: Four 2009 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play

Synopsis

A father who has vanished.

A pill-popping mother.

Three sisters harboring shady little secrets.

When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after their father disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets.

Mix in Violet, the drugged-up, scathingly acidic matriarch, and you’ve got a play that unflinchingly – and uproariously – exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning, August: Osage County is a modern masterpiece.

Press Reviews

"Fiercely funny and bitingly sad… [a] turbo-charged tragicomedy."
— The New York Times

"Ferociously entertaining… the American dysfunctional family drama comes roaring into the 21st century with eyes blazing, nostrils flaring and fangs bared, laced with corrosive humor so darkly delicious and ghastly that you’re squirming in your seat even as you’re doubled over, laughing. A massive meditation on the cruel realities that often belie standard expectations of conjugal and family accord – not to mention on the decline of American integrity itself."
— Variety

"A hugely ambitious, highly combustible saga that will leave you reeling… it’s a great big exhilarating gift."
— New York Daily News

"Packed with unforgettable characters and dozens of quotable lines, August: Osage County is a tensely satisfying comedy, interspersed with remarkable evocations on the cruelties and (occasional) kindnesses of family life."
— New York Sun

"A play that will leave us laughing and wondering, shuddering and smiling, long after the house lights come back on."
— Newsday

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Violet Weston Bev’s wife, 65	female	—	Bev’s wife, 65
Barbara Fordham Bev and Violet’s daughter, 46	female	—	Bev and Violet’s daughter, 46
Bill Fordham Her husband, 49	female	—	Her husband, 49
Jean Fordham Their daughter, 14	female	—	Their daughter, 14
Ivy Weston Bev and Violet’s daughter, 44	female	—	Bev and Violet’s daughter, 44
Karen Weston Bev and Violet’s daughter, 40	female	—	Bev and Violet’s daughter, 40
Mattie Fay Aiken Violet’s sister, 57	female	—	Violet’s sister, 57
Charlie Aiken Mattie Fay’s husband, 60	male	—	Mattie Fay’s husband, 60
Little Charles Aiken Their son, 37	—	—	Their son, 37
Johnna Monevata Housekeeper, 26	—	—	Housekeeper, 26
Steve Heidebrecht Karen’s fiancé, 50	—	—	Karen’s fiancé, 50
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau 47	—	—	47
Beverly Weston 69	—	—	69