PRESS RELEASE: August: Osage County

July 12, 2012: Closing out Keegan’s 2011-12 season is Tracy Letts’ Pulitizer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning play, August: Osage County.  Letts’ jaw-dropping masterpiece of opens on Friday, August 3 and runs through September 2, 2012, at the company’s home on Church Street in Dupont Circle. Curtain is 7:30 pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday evenings, with 3pm Sunday matinees.

Brutal and hilarious, August: Osage County shook audiences to their core when it first exploded onto the American stage.  A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad 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 underbelly of the modern American family.

Directed by Mark A. Rhea, August: Osage County features a cast of 13, including two-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Rena Cherry Brown as Violet.  She is joined by Belen Pifel, Susan Marie Rhea, Stan Shulman, Shadia Hafiz, Lyndsay Rini, Charlie Abel, Kerry Waters Lucas, Kevin Adams, Michael Innocenti, Eric Lucas, Colin Smith and Karen Novack.

“We are thrilled to present the first homegrown production of this amazing play, especially coming off of the record sellout run of Spring Awakening.  This is an exciting time for Keegan audiences, indeed – and it is particularly fitting for us to present August: Osage County as the finale to our 15th Anniversary season,” says Mark A. Rhea, producing artistic director of Keegan Theatre. “This is the type of work that set the tone for Keegan’s reputation, and so it is very rewarding to end this incredibly successful season with such a powerhouse play.  We have assembled an intensely talented and dedicated ensemble to bring these characters to life – I think audiences are going to be blown away experiencing this masterpiece in the intimate Church Street setting.”

August: Osage County runs through September 2, 2012.

The press opening for August: Osage County is on Tuesday, August 7 at 7:30pm.

The Keegan Theatre is in its 15th season and is the resident company at Church Street Theater in Dupont Circle.