From Charles Isherwood's NY Times review, Dec. 5, 2007: "A fraught, densely plotted saga of an Oklahoma clan in a state of near-apocalyptic meltdown, “August” is probably the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Oh, forget probably: It is, flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Fiercely funny and bitingly sad, this turbo-charged tragicomedy — which spans three acts and more than three blissful hours — doesn’t just jump-start the fall theater season, recently stalled when the stagehands went on strike. 'August' throws it instantaneously into high gear. ... In other words, this isn’t theater-that’s-good-for-you theater. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, to quote an immortal line from a beloved sitcom.) It’s theater that continually keeps you hooked with shocks, surprises and delights, although it has a moving, heart-sore core. Watching it is like sitting at home on a rainy night, greedily devouring two, three, four episodes of your favorite series in a row on DVR or DVD. You will leave the Imperial Theater emotionally wrung out and exhausted from laughing, but you may still find yourself hungry for more."
The Playwright
Tracy Letts is the son of the late one-time college professor, later actor Dennis Letts and best selling author Billie Letts. He moved to Chicago at the age of 20, and worked for the next 11 years at Steppenwolf and Famous Door. In 1991, a time when he had an alcohol problem, he wrote the play Killer Joe. (He would later join Alcoholics Anonymous, and has been sober ever since.) Two years later, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Chicago and then at 29th Street Rep in NYC. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in at least 15 countries in 12 languages. In addition to Killer Joe and August: Osage County, Letts has had considerable success with his other plays Bug, Man from Nebraska, and Superior Donuts
His mother Billie Letts has said about his writing, "I try to be upbeat and funny. Everybody in Tracy's stories gets naked or dead."[2] Every one of the three plays he's written is about people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he has drawn inspiration from the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. Letts considers sound to be a very strong story telling tool for theater. (Wikipedia)
