7 Tony Award Nominations for 'August:Osage County'

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is very proud to announce its critically-acclaimed American play August:Osage County by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, is nominated for seven 2008 Tony Awards® including:

Best Play—Tracy Letts*
Best Direction—Anna D. Shapiro*
Best Leading Actress—Deanna Dunagan and Amy Morton*
Best Featured Actress—Rondi Reed*
Best Scenic Design—Todd Rosenthal
Best Lighting Design—Ann G. Wrightson
 
*Steppenwolf ensemble member
† Steppenwolf Co-Founder
 
"Steppenwolf is enormously proud of the Tony nominations for August:Osage County," comments Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey. "The play, written and directed by Steppenwolf ensemble members with a cast featuring ensemble actors, was commissioned by and premiered at our theater in Chicago. We are deeply grateful to our Chicago audiences for their ongoing support of our theater that has allowed us to become a premier American theater for the development and production of new work," adds Lavey.

The 2008 Tony Awards® will be broadcast live on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. CT.  For additional information, go to www.tonyawards.com.

August:Osage County is currently playing at Broadway's Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), following its premiere and sold-out run at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

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 critical turning point.

Other awards for August:Osage County include:  2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama—Tracy Letts; Three 2008 Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Play, Outstanding Director of a Play—Anna D. Shapiro and Outstanding Actress in a Play—Deanna Dunagan; Six 2007 Joseph Jefferson Awards including Best Production-Play, Best Ensemble, Best Principal Actress—Deanna Dunagan, Best Director—Anna D. Shapiro, Best Scenic Designer—Todd Rosenthal and Best New Work-Play—Tracy Letts.

August:Osage County opened on Broadway Tuesday, December 4, 2007. The original Broadway cast is as follows: Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Dennis Letts, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed, Troy West, Munson Hicks, Susanne Marley, Jay Patterson, Dee Pelletier, Molly Ranson, Aaron Serotsky and Kristina Valada-Viars.  The design team includes Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann G. Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).

August:Osage County is playing an open engagement at Broadway's Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesdays - Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.  Tickets can be purchased at Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200. Outside the New York Metro area call (800) 432-7250.

The commercial production is produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler and Jerry Frankel, in association with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Martha Lavey, Artistic Director and David Hawkanson, Executive Director.
 
Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The Chicago company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work.  Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of forty-one artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.
 
For more information on Steppenwolf Theatre Company, go to www.steppenwolf.org.

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