Farewell, Weston family. Deanna Dunagan, Amy Morton and the Steppenwolf cast of “August: Osage County” rehearse the dinner table scene in Chicago before flying to Australia for a final production with the Sydney Theatre Company.
• Deanna Dunagan to return for Oz 'August: Osage County' (posted June 18, 2010)
• Would Tracy Letts have won a Pulitzer without the 'August' cast? (posted April 14, 2008)
• 'August: Osage County' is only more intense as it opens on Broadway (posted Dec. 4, 2007)
• David Cromer's 'Our Town' to close in New York (posted July 27, 2010)
• 'Our Town' director David Cromer does this town proud (posted May 8, 2008)
• Utterly astounding 'Our Town' hits home, but hard (posted May 2, 2008)
I often write here about Chicago shows you should go see. This week is no exception. You should go see the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Tracy Letts' “August: Osage County.” There is just one small catch. You'd have to hop a plane to Sydney. Previews begin next Friday.
Well, why not? You could escape the humidity, pace around the outback and throw a few pre-show shrimps on the old barbie. United Airlines has round-trip flights out of O'Hare for about $2,000.
And as a Chicagoan, you could bask in all the Aussie attention. This will be kind of a coming-out moment for Chicago theater in what has become a very significant destination for live entertainment and, indeed, for global culture. One hopes Chicago is exploiting the opportunity.
Based on my recent chat with an Australian journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald, at least, the Steppenwolf engagement at the Sydney Theatre Company is being regarded as one of the major events of the Australian arts season (this is, of course, the middle of winter Down Under). Ink is being expended on explaining to Australians what is meant by Chicago-style acting and a Chicago-style ensemble.
More to the point, this is your last chance to see Anna D. Shapiro's production with almost all of its original cast — Amy Morton, Deanna Dunagan, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed and the rest.
“I cannot imagine the circumstances,” Shapiro said to me last week, as she headed down to Steppenwolf for one last “August” rehearsal period, “under which this would ever be reassembled.”