Alliance Theater Presents August: Osage County, Opens 4/13

The ALLIANCE THEATRE announces the production of the highly-acclaimed dark comedy August: Osage County with previews starting on the Alliance Stage Wednesday, April 13 and opening night scheduled for Wednesday, April 20. Written by Tracy Letts, August: Osage County is one of the most lauded plays of the decade having won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2008 Tony Award for Best Play and 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.

The play examines the past and present lives of one issue-ridden family and transforms one family gathering into an apocalyptic evening of can't-turn-away blood sport-filled with sex, secrets and really inappropriate behavior.

"The brilliance of August Osage County lies in its utterly dramatic capture of the beauty and horror of total familiarity," notes Jennings Hertz Jr. Artistic Director and production director Susan V. Booth. "Rather than trying to create that complicated sense of family with a room full of strangers, we've opted to take grand advantage of the
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depth and history that Atlanta's best actors share - and to combine the chemistry of 13 veterans with a Pulitzer and Tony Award winning script. It could be lightening in a bottle."

This not-to-be-missed emotional Armageddon features an ensemble of Atlanta's favorite actors led by the triumphant return of Brenda Bynum (Alliance's The Subject Tonight is Love) as Violet Weston. Twelve of the thirteen performers return to the Alliance Stage including Andrew Benator (Eurydice, Tennis in Nablus), Jill Jane Clements (The Miracle Worker, Steel Magnolias, A Christmas Carol, Crimes of the Heart, Music Man, A Streetcar Named Desire, Loose Ends), Carolyn Cook (Sight Unseen, A Man for All Seasons), Richard Garner (Eurydice, director), Bart Hansard (A Christmas Carol, Grapes of Wrath, A Death in the House Next Door, Kathleen Turner's House on Long Island, Tennis in Nablus), Chris Kayser (A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Brigadoon, Miss Ever's Boys, Art, Eurydice, Angels in America, The Grapes of Wrath, Glengarry Glen Ross, Degas' Little Dancer), Tess Malis Kincaid (Moonlight and Magnolias, The Miracle Worker, Amadeus), Joe Knezevich (Carapace, Tennis in Nablus, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Bethany Anne Lind (Carapace, 26 Miles), Courtney Patterson (A Christmas Carol, Managing Maxine, Eurydice, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Frame 312, Light Up the Sky), Diany Rodriguez (Middle School: The Musical). Del Hamilton, 7 Stages Artistic Director, rounds off this dynamic role call of talent.

The Alliance's critically-acclaimed 2010-11 season has produced seven world premieres including four musicals (Twist, Middle School the Musical, The Second City: Miracle on 1280 Peachtree Street and Bring It On) and three plays (Pearl Cleage's The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years, Carapace and Spoon Lake Blues). Spoon Lake Blues plays on the Hertz Stage April 1-28.

August Osage County will be performed on the Alliance Stage with previews beginning on Wednesday, April13 at 8:00 p.m. and opening night Wednesday, April 20. Performances continue through Sunday, May 8 with Tuesday through Saturday evening performances at 8:00 p.m. Weekend matinees are scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Sunday evening performances are at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets start at $20 and are available at the Woodruff Arts Center Box Office by calling 404.733.5000 or online at alliancetheatre.org. Discount rates for groups of 10 or more are available by calling 404-733-4690. Discount rates are also available for members of the military, seniors and students. The ALLIANCE THEATRE is located at the Woodruff Arts Center, corner of Peachtree & 15th Street, in Midtown Atlanta.

About the ALLIANCE THEATRE
Atlanta's nationally acclaimed ALLIANCE THEATRE, recipient of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, creates the powerful experience of shared theatre for diverse people of all ages. Under the leadership of Jennings Hertz, Jr. Artistic Director Susan V. Booth, the ALLIANCE THEATRE uses contemporary classics, field leading theatre artists and a commitment to premiere as the foundation for a national theatre with a local address. The theatre's two stages host 200,000 adult and youth patrons each season, and the Alliance engages and educates students and teachers of all ages through its extensive training programs and commitment to providing a community forum for connection and dialogue.

The Alliance leads the national regional theatre field in the creation of significant American musicals and plays. This includes over 70 premieres that have enjoyed future lives in theatres across the country as well as Tony Award®-winning moves to Broadway: Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida and Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Following their Atlanta premieres, the Alliance transferred Twyla Tharp's Come Fly Away to Broadway for a critically acclaimed Tony Award®-nominated run while Sister Act: the Musical will arrive on Broadway this season after its run on London's West End. This season, the Alliance produced the World Premiere of Bring It On: The Musical. The Alliance also originated the national tours of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk.

The Alliance enjoys a national reputation for finding and developing Atlanta artists for the national stage, including New York Times bestseller Pearl Cleage whose The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years received its world premiere in the fall of 2010 at the Alliance. Further evidence of the Alliance's commitment to new work is its nationally recognized National Graduate Playwriting Competition, a cutting-edge program introducing student playwrights to professional networks across the country while producing the world premiere of the winning student's work here at the Alliance. Work by past Competition winners has gone on to be produced by theatres in New York, Chicago, London, San Francisco and beyond.

The Alliance continuously brings Atlanta the finest talent and finest art-proving once again that the Alliance is where great theatre lives. The ALLIANCE THEATRE is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which also houses the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art and Young Audiences.
www.alliancetheatre.org