Tracy Letts backstage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.
August: Osage county--a lacerating, 3 hr. 20 min. play about one of the meanest, most dysfunctional families ever put onstage--is not much of an advertisement for filial love. Yet when it came time to cast the small but crucial role of the family patriarch--who appears in just one scene, then commits suicide--playwright Tracy Letts did something only a very brave son would do: he let his father play the role.
Dennis Letts, a former college professor turned character actor, appeared in the world-premiere production last year at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. Then, just before it was to transfer to Broadway, he received...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
