Why August: Osage County?
Last year, we were delighted to bring you two full-blown comedies, Resolving Hedda by Jon Klein and Romantic Fools by Rich Orloff. We had so much fun with those and hope you did, too! When it came time to pick the shows for 2023, one play really stood out to us – one that still rang with humor, albeit dark, but had some serious meat in it – one that is very satisfying to both actor and audience.
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts won both the Tony Award® for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008 for a very good reason. It’s extremely well written, full of subtext, and it, as one reviewer wrote, “will lift you out of your seat with laughter one moment and stun you into silence the next.”
And it is brilliant, almost Shakespearean. Each scene is deceptively simple, and yet the themes of the play range from the familial to the historical. Over time it will certainly stand alongside the best efforts of great American playwrights such as Williams, Albee, Miller, O’Neill, Hellman and Mamet.
Icing on the cake? Five of the seven female roles are characters over the age of forty. Just right for Valley Players!
Oh, by the way, if you’ve seen the movie version… well… please try to forget it. Sometimes Hollywood just doesn’t know how to translate a brilliant play onto the big screen, and this is one glaring example.
Showtimes are March 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 & 25 at 7 pm, March 12, 19 & 26 at 2 pm at the Yountville Community Center.
Intended for mature audiences.
Tickets can be pre-purchased online or by calling 707-948-6273 for $25.
Tickets can purchased at the door beginning one hour before showtime for $28.