‘August: Osage County’ at Curtis Theatre
- OC Theatre Guild
- 42 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Tracy Letts’ 2008 masterpiece makes its way to the stage in Orange County.
By Eric Marchese
Families – with all their drama, tension and conflict – have for centuries been a rich source for stage plays, from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” to Lillian Hellman’s “The Little Foxes” and Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child.”
More recently is Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County.” The tragicomedy, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was adapted into the 2013 film version by Letts himself.
Many of his plays have been staged throughout Orange County, from venues as obscure as Hunger Artists to as prominent as South Coast Repertory – some directed by Letts’ longtime collaborator, William Friedkin.
Now, Letts fans can see his more recent masterpiece in a joint production between STAGEStheatre and the Curtis Theatre in Brea, directed by longtime STAGES director and producer Amanda DeMaio.
Basic elements of the play
She categorizes the play as “primarily a family drama, with many themes, some more obvious than others.” The story unfolds over several weeks in August inside the three-story home of Beverly and Violet Weston just outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
The play’s numerous themes, DeMaio notes, include “death, dysfunction, addiction, alcoholism, racism, power struggles, evasion, intergenerational conflict and trauma. However, one of the most dominant themes is decline” – on three levels: personal, familial and even political.
The expert director asserts that “While Letts didn’t write ‘August: Osage County’ as a political statement,” he does connect “the Weston family’s decline by using quotations from T.S. Eliot’s 1925 poem ‘The Hollow Men’ to begin and end the play.”
In that poem, Eliot “speaks about people who succumb to slow spiritual and moral decay, which brings about the end of the world in a way that is worse than its abrupt destruction,” DeMaio said. “‘August: Osage County,’” she added, “uses the theme of decline to suggest the same thing – the slow, painful corrosion of humanity is worse than any violent or sudden death.”
Notable family-oriented stage works
DeMaio noted that other plays with similar themes include Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” Peter Barnes’ “Red Noses,” Beth Henley’s “Crimes of the Heart,” Aurthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” David Auburn’s “Proof” and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Appropriate.”
She said family dramas are compelling because “everyone has family – whether blood relatives or the family you choose. They reflect common, relatable relationships and struggles, which at the core are about the basic need for human connection.”
“I can agree there are similarities to plays by Albee and Shepard. I think the combative language in …Virginia Woolf is absolutely something the characters Violet and Beverly Weston (from August) could easily fit right into.”
The cast DeMaio has assembled
DeMaio said that while “August: Osage County” is “such an ensemble show,” the leads are essentially Violet Weston, portrayed by Rose London, and Barbara Fordham, played by Stacy Castiglione. Also featured are Kathleen Switzer as Ivy Weston, Hannah Mariah as Johnna Monevata, Shelly Day as Mattie Fae Aiken, and Paul Burt as Charlie Aiken.
Rounding out the cast are Glenn Freeze as Beverly Weston, Rob Downs as Bill Fordham, Shelby Perlis as Jean Fordham, Kerri Hellmuth as Karen Weston, Patrick Peterson as Little Charles Aiken, Phil Nieto as Steve Heidebrecht and Phil Brickey as Sheriff Deon Gilbeau.
“I really find this play to be fascinating in that there are no weak characters,” DeMaio said. “All 13 serve a distinct purpose.”
She added that “much of the strength in the show comes from the female characters. The family matriarch, Violet Weston, played here by Rose London, is at the core of the play. Rose brings tremendous strength to the role, showing her ability to command the stage and embrace some painful lines – things you can’t imagine ever saying to someone – along with the strange juxtaposition of the dark humor in the play. She is just amazing to watch.”
DeMaio said Violet’s oldest daughter, Barbara, “is sharp, biting, controlling and fights every impulse to not be like Violet, as she struggles through her own family’s upheaval. Stacy is remarkable with the range of emotions and intent she brings to the role, as we see her wrestle with Barbara’s own actions and reactions throughout the play.”
What the other characters represent
The other characters include Ivy Weston, “the often misunderstood and overlooked middle daughter,” and youngest daughter Karen, “who desperately wants to believe there is good in everyone.”
Johnna Monevata “is sort of the moral compass throughout the play,” while Mattie Fae “struggles with the destructive power of her long-held secrets.”
Charles, Mattie Fae’s husband, “is honestly one of the most stable and truly kind characters in the play,” DeMaio said. Their son, Little Charles, “yearns for love and connection.”
Jean Fordham “gives us a glimpse at what the younger generation inherits from family dysfunction.”
Beverly Weston is the family patriarch, while Bill Fordham, Barbara’s estranged husband, “is going through his own midlife crisis.” Also crucial are Steve Heidebrecht, Karen’s morally corrupt fiancé, and Sheriff Deon Gilbeau, “who represents a life that could have been.”
Stage version versus film adaptation
“Nothing beats live performances – everything is magnified, everything is in the moment, and watching a great ensemble work together and support each other is so powerful to see,” DeMaio said.
The production and design team working with DeMaio includes Lauren Shoemaker (stage manager), Jon Gaw (set designer), Andrea Birkholm (costume designer), Sophie Flandrois (lighting designer) and Thor Fay (sound designer).
Since the play came first, if you liked the movie and want to see what inspired it, start with the play. The play and the movie, though, are very different. The movie is a lot darker and heavier; the play’s dark humor is largely lost on screen.
Watching the play lets the audience lean into the family discomfort while laughing at its absurdity at the same time. “There is a collective reaction from the audience with each performance that they experience together, and nothing compares to that,” DeMaio said.
“One of the things you miss seeing in the movie is the amazing stage set, which is its own character,” she added. “Designed by Jon Gaw, the set reflects the trapped anxiousness of the family members. There is no room to escape each other, and it keeps them tied to the family house and each other until they just cannot take it anymore.”
‘August: Osage County’
STAGEStheatre & Curtis Theatre
When: September 5 - 14, 2025
Where: Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Cir, Brea
Information: 714-990-7722, CurtisTheatre.com
Eric Marchese has written about numerous subjects for more than 40 years as a freelance and staff journalist at a wide variety of publications, but is best known as a critic, feature writer and news reporter covering theater and the arts throughout Orange County and beyond.
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