2018: August: Osage County

August: Osage County is a Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy by Tracy Letts. Spanning several weeks, the play is set in the Weston family house outside of modern-day Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

Shortly after Beverly, the Weston family paterfamilias, hires a live-in maid and cook for his wife, Violet, he mysteriously disappears. Violet, suffering from cancer and an addiction to pain medication, the latter of which can make her unbearable to be around, is guided through this difficult time by her sister, her three daughters and their respective men and children. Suddenly, three generations of Westons find themselves stuck in the family home together. Barbara, Violet’s eldest daughter, only reluctantly returns to Oklahoma with her husband and pubescent daughter, after having avoided Osage County for years. The middle sister, Ivy, is getting an earful about how she finally needs to find herself a man while Karen, the youngest, proudly parades around her seemingly perfect new love. In the confinement of the family home and the suppressing August heat, years of buried resentment resurface, accusations fly, and shocking
secrets are revealed.

About the Author

August: Osage County, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008, is not the only play that the American playwright and actor Tracy Letts is known for: He also won a Tony Award in the category of Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for portraying George in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Furthermore, he is co-founder of the theater company Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre. Letts’ plays often portray characters that struggle with moral or spiritual questions.

Cast
Beverly Weston –Claudio Lorenzi
Violet Weston – Olivia Fischer
Barbara Fordham – Mayumi Kinoshita
Bill Fordham – Andri Erdin
Jean Fordham – Alena Zwahlen
Ivy Weston – Kathrin Schmid
Karen Weston – Franziska Schnellmann
Mattie Fae Aiken – Désirée Wenger
Charlie Aiken – Bill Kirkby
Little Charles Aiken – Lorenzo Contin
Johnna Monevata – Emilie Roux dit Buisson
Steve Heidebrecht – Kiran Kuzhippallil
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau – Ivan Olivares Rivas

Crew
Director – Astrit Abazi
Producer – Mayumi Kinoshita
Treasurer, Music – Andrin Albrecht
Lighting & Sound – Ankit Anand
Stage Design – Sarah Rechsteiner
Assistant Directors – Saskia Kaiser
Elisa Stauffer
Assistant Producer – Isabelle Leder
Marketing Managers – Olivia Fischer
Eric Szabó Félix
Art Design – Balz Schlegel
Photography & Videography– Harry Chen
Jialu Zhu
Charlotte Spalinger
Costume Design – Irina Martín
Stage Hands – Fartun Akubar Ali
Laura Eschmann