By Kenneth Jones
28 Jun 2007

Mariann Mayberry in August: Osage County.
photo by Michael Brosilow

A missing patriarch prompts a family to reunite at its Oklahoma homestead in the world premiere of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, beginning June 28 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Downstairs Theatre in Chicago.

The dark drama by Steppenwolf ensemble member Letts, author of Killer Joe, features ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed and Rick Snyder as well as Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Fawn Johnstin, Dennis Letts and Troy West.

Anna D. Shapiro directs the staging, scheduled to continue to Aug. 26. Opening is July 8.

According to the respected resident company, "When their patriarch vanishes, the Weston clan must return to their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to get to the heart of the matter. With rich insight and brilliant humor, Letts paints a vivid portrait of a Midwestern family at a turning point."

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Pulitzer Prize finalist Tracy Letts became a Steppenwolf ensemble member in 2002 and was recently named an artistic associate. He has appeared at Steppenwolf in Betrayal, The Pillowman, Last of the Boys, The Pain and the Itch, The Dresser, Homebody/Kabul, The Dazzle, Glengarry Glen Ross (also Dublin and Toronto), Three Days of Rain, Road to Nirvana, Picasso at the Lapin Agile and the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Glass Menagerie. He is the author of Man from Nebraska, which was produced at Steppenwolf in 2003 and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize; Killer Joe, which has been produced in Chicago, London and New York; and Bug, which has played in New York, Chicago and London.

Director Anna D. Shapiro is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf, where her directing credits include The Unmentionables by Bruce Norris (also at Yale Rep), the world premiere of Bruce Norris' The Pain and the Itch (also in New York), Robert Anderson's I Never Sang for My Father, the world premiere of Tracy Letts' Man from Nebraska, Until We Find Each Other by Brooke Berman, Purple Heart by Bruce Norris (also in Galway, Ireland), The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey, the world premiere of The Ordinary Yearning of Miriam Buddwing by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, Warren Leight's Side Man (also in Ireland, Australia and Vail, Colorado), Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain and the world premiere of Bruce Norris' The Infidel.

The designers of August: Osage County are Todd Rosenthal (set), Ann Wrightson (lights), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music). Cecilie O'Reilly is the dialect coach. Deb Styer is the stage manager, and Michelle Medvin is the assistant stage manager.

Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre is at 1650 N. Halsted, in Chicago.

For more information visit www.steppenwolf.org.

Steppenwolf ensemble member Rick Snyder in August: Osage County.
photo by Michael Brosilow