Photo Flash: Alley Theatre's AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

Starting this month on the Hubbard stage is the Alley Theatre's powerful new production of Tracy's Lett's August: Osage County. This grand, gripping new play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play as well as the Drama Desk Award for Best New Play, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. Tracy Letts' August: Osage County tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their Oklahoma home when the patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and secrets, the family must also contend with Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of this storm. This powerful production exposes relationships between unforgettable characters who present themselves with unflinching honesty. Recommended for mature audience, ages 16+. Contains profanity, mature themes, sexuality and drug use.

Variety describes August: Osage County as a "very juicy...epic evening... (a) richly entertaining dysfunctional-family juggles the hilarious, the poignant and the appalling on a scale seldom seen." Los Angeles Times says it is "sensationally entertaining...a feast for actors and audiences alike." Time Magazine named it the "#1 Show of the Year!"

August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts and directed by Jackson Gay (Alley Theatre's Intelligence-Slave) begins previews Friday, February 18, opens Wednesday, February 23 and runs through Sunday, March 13, 2011 on the Hubbard Stage.

The 13 member cast features Louisa Flaningam as Mattie Fae Aiken, Sarah Gay as Johnna Monevata, Jennifer Harmon as Violet Weston and Eva Kaminsky as Ivy Weston. All four actors are making their Alley debuts.

Louisa Flaningam (Mattie Fae Aiken) is celebrating 43 years as a professional actress. Her career has taken her from Fastrada in Bob Fosse's Pippin (National Tour) to Driving Miss Daisy (Barrymore Award Nomination). She played the overbearing matriarch, Aunt March, in the National Tour of Little Women with Maureen McGovern. Her Broadway credits include General Cartwright in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, Charmin in The Magic Show and Play Me a Country Song. National Tours include Laurel in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy, I Love My Wife with The Smothers Brothers and Marta in Company. She has performed in the premiere of William Kennedy's Grand View and at Theatre Under the Stars as Meg in Damn Yankees with Tony Randal.

Sarah Gay (Johnna Monevata), a recent Texas transplant, has appeared onstage in Metamorphoses and the Grapes of Wrath at ZACH theatre, John & Jen (Critics Table award winner- Best Musical) and Three Days of Rain at Penfold Theatre, The Cherry Orchard with Breakin' String and City of Angels at Mary Moody Northen Theatre. Selected Canadian credits include As You Like It at CanStage, Cabaret at the New Yorker Theatre, Seussical at Carousel Theatre and co-producing and appearing in The World Goes ‘Round at Pacific Theatre.

Jennifer Harmon's (Violet Weston) has appeared on Broadway in The Glass Menagerie, The Dinner Party, Amy's View, The Little Foxes, School for Scandal, The Sisters Rosensweig, Rumors and Blithe Spirit. She has been a company member for 7 years at Apa-Phoenix Repertory and a company member for five seasons at Williamstown Theatre. She was in the national tour of The Show Off with Helen Hayes and has appeared Off-Broadway in In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe, HOT L BALTIMORE, The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds, The Holly and the Ivey and Dr. Knock. She has performed at regional theatres across the country including Richard III at Chicago Shakespeare Rep; To Kill A Mockingbird, 8 by Tenn, Undiscovered Country and The Greeks at Hartford Stage; A Delicate Balance at Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Summer and Smoke at Hartford Stage and Paper Mill Playhouse; Auntie Mame at Bay Street, Tonight at 8:30 at Williamstown Theatre Festival; King John and King Lear at Shakespeare Theatre; The Heiress at Ahmanson Theatre; Later Life at Old Globe; Hamlet at The Guthrie; Danton's Death at Center Stage; Hedda Gabler and Ghosts at The American Ibsen Theatre.

August: Osage County features Alley Theatre Artists Jeffrey Bean as Bill Fordham, James Belcher as Charlie Aiken, James Black as Steve Heidebrecht, Elizabeth Bunch as Karen Weston, Josie de Guzman as Barbara Fordham, Chris Hutchison as Little Charles Aiken, Charles Krohn as Beverly Weston, Emily Neves as Jean Fordham and Todd Waite as Sheriff Deon Gilbeau.

The design team for August: Osage County includes scenic and lighting design by Kevin Rigdon (Alley's A Behanding in Spokane, Intelligence-Slave, Mrs. Mannerly) with costume design by Alejo Vietti (Alley's Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, Our Town, Rock ‘n' Roll). Sound design is by Pierre Dupree (Alley's A Behanding in Spokane, Intelligence-Slave, The Man Who Came to Dinner) with fight direction by Brian Byrnes (Alley's Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, Intelligence-Slave, Cyrano de Bergerac) and Dramaturg Lauren Halvorsen (Alley's A Behanding in Spokane, Mrs. Mannerly, Our Town).

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to August: Osage County start at $21. All tickets to August: Osage County are available for purchase at www.alleytheatre.org, at the Alley Theatre Box Office, 615 Texas Avenue, or by calling 713.220.5700. Groups of 10 or more can receive special concierge services and select discounts by calling 713.220.5700 and asking for the group sales department. The added convenience of reservations by phone or Internet is available for a nominal fee. Tickets purchased in person at the Alley Theatre Box Office have a $1 building restoration fee.

Photo Credit: John Everett