Synopsis
August: Osage County takes place over 2 and ½ weeks in August 2007, the hottest month of the year. Beverly Weston, the poet patriarch has disappeared and now the family gathers to weather this Oklahoma storm of uncertainty – an extended clan, grand and bizarre – a sweltering reunion of black sheep toting their suitcases packed with addictions, secrets, and unspoken truths. The play focuses on Violet, a pill-addicted shrew, and her three daughters: Barbara – the oldest, having marital problems; Ivy – an ugly duckling in love with her cousin; and Karen – looking for love in all the wrong places. Each of them wrestles with what comes next. All of them harbor a BIG family secret.
Info
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre opens its new season in its new theatre with the Regional Premiere of August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. The play is Letts’ best and darkest comedic drama – a three-story, booze-swilling, pill-popping evening of laugh-out-loud, cry-inside family dysfunction; winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award.
August: Osage County runs August 25 through September 24
Thursday performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday performances begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.
No Late Seating
Please note this play contains profanity and onstage smoking.
Reviews
Charlotte Observer: “The 13-person cast, led by harrowing performances by Polly Adkins and Paula Baldwin as a mother and daughter locked in potentially mortal combat, is as fine as any I’ve seen in local theater.”
Arts a la Mode: “This three-act, ensemble tragicomedy allows CAST to show that they have moved to a higher level of quality in their new home in NoDa, with an impressive, multilevel set and fine acting throughout the cast.”
KnightArts.org: “Some argue that great art connects with us on an emotional level. Simply based on this criteria, Carolina Actors Studio Theatre is high art. I don’t consider myself a regular theatre patron, yet I have experienced all kinds throughout my life. Personally speaking, the best live theatre is intimate, where the viewer lives in the same space as the characters. “AUGUST: Osage County” is powerful, memorable, leaving me appreciating my own crazy family and defining itself as some of the best live theatre I’ve experienced.”
CVNC: “Simmons’ direction is far more bold and visionary than usual, and CAST’s experiential style of production has never worked better.”
