Kara Krichman
Dramaturgy
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AugusT: Osage County
About the Playwright
• born July 4, 1965 in Tulsa, Oklahoma
• His father, the late Dennis Letts, was a literature professor and ended up playing Beverly in August: Osage County on Broadway. Dennis Letts had been
• His mother, Billie, is a best-selling novelist
• Two siblings: Shawn (jazz musician and composer) an Dana
• Grew up in Durant, Oklahoma (in Bryan County)
• Before Letts wrote any plays, he spent a period of time after college pursuing an acting career. He calls this time period the 'lost years.'
•Letts is an Ensemble Member at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and still involved today
• First Play: Killer Joe • Others: Bug, Man From Nebraska, Superior Donuts, and a translation of Three Sisters
• Billie Letts, his mother and also a writer, once said, "I try to be upbeat and funny. Everybody in Tracy's stories gets naked or dead."
• 2008 Letts won the Tony Award, Drama Desk, and Pulitzer Prize for August: Osage County
• In 2013, Letts won a Tony Award for his performance as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Letts still acts and has a recurring role on Homeland.
Fast Facts:
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• Tracy's grandfather on his mother's side committed suicide when he was 10 years old
• Growing up, Letts grandmother was heavily addicted to prescription pills. Letts' says she had an addiction to 'downers'. He recalls the situation as 'a horrible impact on my family, an has ripples in my family even to this day." As the major inspiration for Violet, Letts pulled from real experience; much like Violet, Letts' grandmother would smuggle pills in her vagina.
• Growing up, Letts father said to his grandmother that she should kill herself and overdose because she is destroying Billie's (Letts mother's) life.
• Letts, himself, is a recovering alcoholic, and used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.
• Tracy Letts' father, Dennis Letts, originated the role of Beverly at Steppenwolf in Chicago. When they were moving the production to Broadway, his father was diagnosed with cancer and they were unsure if Dennis would open the show. After pushing back opening due to a stage hand strike, the play opened December 4, 2007 with Dennis Letts as Beverly. Dennis Letts passed away February 22, 2008.
View his obituary below
• When Letts won the Tony he was thankful, but also incredible angry, upset, overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many people but not he father who had died in February of the same year.
View his Tony Speech below
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Family Connections:
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On Writing August: Osage County​
Being an ensemble member in Steppenwolf, Letts was very interested in writing this play with certain actors in mind. In an interview, he mentions how he was intrigued by how many of the actors were from small Mid-Western towns, much like Letts himself.
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Letts says, "We share the multi-generational conflict that inevitably arises when Those Who Have Nothing have willed their pride and guilt to Those Who Have Wanted for Nothing." -Letts
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To the the entire article click here.