Southern Rep Theatre Announces Casting For AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

Southern Rep Theatre will debut its upcoming 2019-2020 Mainstage season with the professional regional premiere of Tracy Letts' 2008 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. Directed by Jason Kirkpatrick(The Walking Dead, ALL THE WAY at Southern Rep), the limited engagement will begin September 11, 2019 and run through October 6, 2019 at Southern Rep's permanent home located at 2541 Bayou Road, New Orleans.

"We're thrilled to be back for another exciting season in our permanent home on Bayou Road," said Producing Artistic Director, Aimée Hayes. "Not only does AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY find the funny in the challenges of family, it also pulls at our hearts because of the truth it reflects about those we hold dear. We've gathered a bang-up cast for this. Between Letts' unforgettable script, an original score by Brendan Connelly, and powerhouse performances, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY promises to be a night of theatre not to be missed."

The 13-member tour-de-force ensemble will feature Ellen Barry (Violet), Ilyanette Bernabel (Johnna), Thomas Francis Murphy (Beverly), Lara Grice (Mattie Fae),Aimée Hayes (Barbara), Raina Houston (Jean), Robert Larriviere (Charlie),Jenny Mercein (Karen), John Neisler (Steve), Lance Nichols (Bill), Troy Poplous(Deon), Nick Thompson (Little Charles), and Mandy Zirkenbach (Ivy).

Scenic designer David Raphel will transform Southern Rep's black box mainstage into the Weston family home, a functional three-story house complete with a thrust into the seating area. The design team includes local favorites Josh Courtney (lighting) Kaci Thomassie (costumes), Kara Borasch (props), and will feature an original score by Brendan Connelly.

A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. Mix in Violet, the drugged-up, scathingly acidic matriarch, and you've got a major play that unflinchingly-and uproariously-exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

Ambitious and acclaimed, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY originated at the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre and moved to Broadway for an 18-month smash hit run, garnering the 2008 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Christopher Isherwood (New York Times) proclaimed it "the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Fiercely funny and bitingly sad . . . a turbo-charged tragicomedy." The production received a national tour and in 2013 was adapted into a star-studded film featuring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Juliette Lewis. Now, for the first time, this powerhouse play will have its Professional Regional Premiere at Southern Rep Theatre.

Single tickets for AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY go on-sale on August 12, 2019. To purchase subscriptions and learn more about subscription benefits and the 2019-20 Mainstage Season, visit www.southernrep.com or call the box office at 504-522-6545.