AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY To Close On Broadway Sunday June 28th 2009/06/17

Tracy Letts' AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, winner of five 2008 Tony Awards, as well as the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, and currently starring Tony and Emmy award winner Phylicia Rashad, will play its final performance on SUNDAY, JUNE 28th, 2009. It will have played 648 performances and 18 previews, surpassing The Heidi Chronicles, Master Class, The Real Thing, and Doubt, among many others, to become one of the longest running plays in Broadway history.

As previously announced, August: Osage County will begin its National Tour, starring Academy award winner Estelle Parsons, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on July 24th, 2009, before travelling to more than 18 locations all around the country. For more information and dates, please visit WWW.AUGUSTONBROADWAY.COM.

The show currently boasts the most Award winning cast on Broadway: Tony winners Phylicia Rashad ("The Cosby Show", Raisin in the Sun, Gem of the Ocean), John Cullum (Urinetown, Shenandoah, On the Twentieth Century), Elizabeth Ashley (Dividing the Estate, The Best Man), and Frank Wood (Side Man), with Original Cast member (and Tony nominee) Amy Morton, and Anne Berkowitz, Guy Boyd, Kimberly Guerrero, Brian Kerwin, Michael Milligan, Sally Murphy, Mariann Mayberry, and Troy West.

Hailed by the New York Times as "Flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting American play Broadway has seen in years", August: Osage County, began performances on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on October 30th, 2007 and opened on December 4th, direct from its critically acclaimed sold-out engagement at Chicago's Tony Award-winning Steppenwolf Theatre Company. It subsequently moved to the Music Box Theater on April 29th, 2008, where it has been playing ever since.

August: Osage County was presented by producers Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Ostar Productions, Jennifer Manocherian, The Weinstein Company, Debra Black/Daryl Roth, Ronald & Marc Frankel/Barbara Freitag, and Rick Steiner/Staton Bell Group

The original Broadway company, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, featured Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Dennis Letts, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed and Troy West, with understudies Munson Hicks, Susanne Marley, Jay Patterson, Dee Pelletier, Molly Ranson and Kristina Valada-Viars.

The design team included Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).

The production received 5 Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Director of a Play - Anna D. Shapiro, Best Actress in a Play - Deanna Dunagan, Best Featured Actress in a Play - Rondi Reed, and Best Set Design of a Play - Todd Rosenthal.

August: Osage County welcomed many prestigious new cast members throughout its run, including Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons, Tony Award winners John Cullum, Elizabeth Ashley, and Frank Wood. The cast also welcomed Tony nominee Johanna Day, Robert Foxworth, Molly Regan, Michael McGuire, Michael Milligan, Guy Boyd, Scott Jaeck, Anne Berkowitz, Samantha Ross, Jim True-Frost, and Amy Warren, with understudies Aaron Serotsky, Stephen Payne, Avia Bushyhead, Frank Deal, and Emily Walton.

The thrilling new American play by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (Bug, Killer Joe) August: Osage County has been hailed by the New York Times as "hugely entertaining! A ripsnorter full of blistering, funny dialogue, acid-etched characterizations and scenes of no-holds-barred emotional combat." When their patriarch vanishes, the Weston clan must return to their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to get to the heart of the matter. With rich insight and brilliant humor, Letts paints a vivid portrait of a Midwestern family at a turning point that is "not-to-be-missed" (Chicago Tribune). Anna D. Shapiro (The Pain and the Itch) directs the "dazzlingly good" (Chicago Sun-Times) ensemble in what Variety calls "a deep and highly entertaining work, consistently rich, raw and intense, filled with viciousness and vicious wit."

August: Osage County currently performs Tuesday at 7:00PM, Wednesday-Friday at 7:30PM, Matinees on Wednesday and Saturdays at 2:00PM, Saturdays at 8:00PM and Sundays at 3:00PM. Tickets can be purchased at Telecharge.com, or by calling (212) 239-6200. Outside the NY Metro (800) 432-7250. The Music Box Theatre is located at 239 West 45th Street

Related Links

Parsons Led AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Tour Opens In Denver 7/28
The producers of August: Osage County, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play that tells the bitingly funny and sensationally entertaining tale of the Weston family of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, present the First National Tour. The tour officially kicks off in Denver at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on July 28, 2009.

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Tour Begins In Denver Starring Parsons
August: Osage County, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play that tells the bitingly funny and sensationally entertaining tale of the Weston family of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, starring Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons in the role of the family matriarch, Violet, will launch its national tour, in Denver, CO on July 24th, 2009. Following two weeks at Denver's Ellie Caukins Opera House (7/24-8/8), the show will play San Francisco's Curran Theatre from August 11 - September 6, 2009. Subsequent engagements will be announced shortly. Ms. Parsons is currently appearing in the show on Broadway where The New York Times recently raved, "Estelle Parsons gives a superb performance...sends chills down your spine. It may prove to be a crowning moment in an illustrious career." Ms. Parsons joined the company in June, 2008. Estelle Parsons first foray into the business began when she was hired by "The Today Show," first as a production assistant, then staff writer, which eventually led her to become the first female television network political news reporter. Estelle began acting and appeared in her first stage performance on Broadway in Happy Hunting. Since then, Estelle has gone on to either star in or direct over 25 productions. Most notably, she has been nominated for the Tony Award for her performances in The Seven Descents of Myrtle, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, Miss Margarida's Way and Mornings at Seven.

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Ends Broadway Run 6/28
TRACY LETTS' AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, winner of five 2008 Tony Awards, as well as the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, and currently starring Tony and Emmy award winner PHYLICIA RASHAD, will play its final performance on SUNDAY, JUNE 28th, 2009. It will have played 648 performances and 18 previews, surpassing The Heidi Chronicles, Master Class, The Real Thing, and Doubt, among many others, to become one of the longest running plays in Broadway history.

Photo Coverage: Broadway's New 'Violet' Phylicia Rashad Takes Her Bow In AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
August: Osage County, which, on Friday, May 22nd, surpassed The Heidi Chronicles in the list of Broadway's longest running plays, welcomed Tony Award-winner Phylicia Rashad to the cast on Tuesday, May 26th. Ms. Rashad now stars as Violet Weston. BroadwayWorld's cameras were there last night to capture the curtain call with the acclaimed cast.

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