Character description, analysis and casting breakdown for violet weston from august. Osage county characters breakdowns including full descriptions with standard casting requirements and expert analysis. Osage county was a major success on broadway in 2008, earning tremendous critical praise and winning the pulitzer prize for drama, five tony awards, including best. Dec 25, 20 for a dialogueheavy film with maybe 10 seconds of actual physical aggression, august. Osage county characters tracy letts this study guide consists of approximately 49 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of august. Letts wrote the play in 2007, at the end of the bush administration and the beginning of a. More than a century old, the house was probably built by a clan of successful irish homesteaders.
Letts was born in tulsa, oklahoma to bestselling author billie letts, of where the heart is and the honk and holler opening soon fame, and the late college professor and actor dennis letts. It is produced by george clooney, grant heslov, jean doumanian, and steve traxler the film stars an ensemble cast consisting of meryl streep, julia roberts, ewan mcgregor, chris cooper, abigail breslin, benedict cumberbatch. Karen would wear something just slightly inappropriate to the funeral, a little too low cut and a little too short. My students cant get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof. Osage county centers around the weston family, brought together after their patriarch, worldclass poet and alcoholic beverly weston, disappears. It was really some sad times to participate in with these characters. Related questions and answers for characters in august. Hopefully, the play will be embraced by college professors, for the text is rich with compelling characters and scintillating criticism of the modern american family. Osage county ends with the daughters leaving and the mother alone in the house with the housekeeper. In the play, the first line of the prologue is revelatory. Each character contributes to the dysfunction of the family within the movie august. Thats not a unique feature of the movie version, of course. Osage county is a play written by tracy letts, which premiered at chicagos steppenwolf theatre in 2007 and was given a broadway showing shortly thereafter.
Osage county is a portrait of the dysfunctional american family at its finestand absolute worst. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. One of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent history, august. Osage county is a heartbreaking and hard film to watch but a therapeutically rewarding one. The characters have been developed in a very compelling manner. Osage county study guide contains a biography of tracy letts, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and. The character that seemed to be one of the most important and prominent in the play was the mother, violet. It was the recipient of the 2008 pulitzer prize for drama.
It had its broadway debut at the imperial theater on december 4, 2007, and the production transferred to the music box. The characters portrayed by the actors have done great justice to the play and made it into a pulitzer prize winner. Osage county study guide contains a biography of tracy letts, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The matriarch, violet, depressed and addicted to pain pills and truthtelling, is joined by her three daughters and their problematic lovers, who harbor their. Its a good thing we all liked each other as people because as. What you choose to show at the ending when the credits start, what the music is those are the questions we were dealing with. Osage county is worthy of the praise it has received from critics and audiences. This family seems perfect from the outside, but only those on the inside know what really happens. Osage county, the play written by tracy letts, concludes on a bleak note, with violet weston meryl streep, the storys chief antagonist and matriarch of the weston clan, left all alone by her daughters after a tumultuous visit. Osage county premiered at the toronto international film festival on september 9, 20, and was released in the united states on december 27, 20. A look at the lives of the strongwilled women of the weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Thats how it has always ended, thats how it will always end. All major actions in this play show the characters need for escape through a push a pull pattern found within the scenes. Where the wind comes sweeping out of the mouths of the speechifying members of the quarrelsome weston clan who have gathered to pay their last respects to one of their ownand disrespects to each otherin august. Tarra kooker assignment 10 while reading the play august. A prevalent theme is that of selfpreservation, or the need to. Character analysis of the sympathetic character of barbara. If tracy lettss play, in a magnificent chicago steppenwolf production by anna d shapiro, arrives in. Sometimes theatrical plays dont translate well onto the screen. The film version, also written by letts, ends in a similar fashion, before adding an. Osage county rightfully boils down to the fates of violet and barbara, both left husbandless and damaged by the events. Complete list of characters in tracy lettss august. Some of the themes so present in the play are muddied when adapted over into a film. Lets take a look at the members of the weston family and what happens to them in august.
Osage county tells the tale of the dysfunctional westin clan, who all come together after the death of patriarch beverly weston sam shepard. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of august osage county by tracy letts. Learn everything you need to know about barbara, violet, and more in august. Osage county is an awardwinning play by wellknown contemporary playwright tracy letts. Trauma is a continuum of sorrow that ripples through generations of the weston family. Packed with unforgettable characters and dozens of quotable lines, august. The play opens with beverly weston, a oncefamous poet, interviewing johnna, a young cheyenne woman, for a. I suspect, based on my reading of the play i have not seen the production, that this might be the case with tracy letts pulitzer prizewinning play, august. Winner of the 2008 pulitzer prize and tony award for best new.
The characters feel trapped between their love and the bleak panorama of an environment full of frustration, envy, and competitiveness instead of love and. Winner of the 2008 pulitzer prize, tracy letts darkly comic drama august. Analysis and discussion of characters in tracy letts august. Detailed analysis of characters in tracy lettss august. When the patriarch of the weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the oklahoma homestead, where longheld secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. Linebyline modern translations of every shakespeare play and poem. With meryl streep, dermot mulroney, julia roberts, juliette lewis. This article provides a brief synopsis, characters, and themes from one of the greatest american.
The way they have been presented criticizes the american society in this current age. A look at the lives of the strongwilled women of the weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. What social, political, economic and artistic environments influenced the writing of august. Alcoholic, famous poet and former writing professor at the university of tulsa. It was written by tracy letts and based on his pulitzer prizewinning eponymous play. Osage county characters from litcharts the creators of. August 2007 prologue a rambling country house outside pawhuska, oklahoma, sixty miles northwest of tulsa. All major actions in this play show the characters need for escape through a. Definitions and examples of 301 literary terms and devices. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Most of the weston family members are sharp and sensitive because they can be ability to make each other absolutely miserable. Osage county may make you think twice about going home for the holidaysits a great big exhilarating gift.
Tracy letts is an american playwright and actor who received the 2008 pulitzer prize for drama for his play august. Osage county costume design karen karen is a little flashy, she wears her clothes tight and in brighter colors than the rest of the cast. Ive described how each character contributes to this. Osage county, tracy letts explores an individuals need to distinguish their own path through his characters relentless attempt to escape their dysfunctional familial ties. Violets husband and father of barbara, ivy and karen. Osage county such as barbara and violet contribute to the story and how they fit into the plot. Includes mature adult, elderly, adult, young adult characters. Osage county is a darkly comedic play which tells of a dysfunctional family struggling with timeless issues. It is the story that gets to my heart of human emotion and behavior that have the most impact. Osage county, tracy letts explores an individuals need to distinguish their own path through his characters relentless attempt to escape their.
Osage county, the screen adaptation of tracy lettss pulitzer prizewinning 2007 drama of family dysfunction. His wife violet meryl streep, who is fighting mouth cancer and a growing dependency on pain pills, sees her entire clan return home for the services, including her sister mattie fae aiken. People can convince themselves they love a painted rock. The main characters in the play, the weston family, have outstanding personalities.
Jan 12, 2014 even though ive not had the pleasure of seeing august osage county on stage, i cant help but believe these two characters, in particular, would be better slated for the stage than the screen. Osage county are disturbed, angry, and aggressively selfmedicated. As the horrifying revelations pile upincluding incest, child molestation and mistaken paternityand the battered participants slink off in despair one by one, august. While much praise was given to the cast, the screenplay was praised by some and seen by others as too dark and. Additions, renovations and repairs have essentially modernized the house until i972 or so, when all structural care ceased.
It won the 2008 pulitzer prize for drama the play tells the story of the weston family, which is forced to reunite after the patriarch, oncefamous poet beverly weston, turns up dead from suicide. Winner of the 2008 pulitzer prize and tony award for best new play, august. Osage county characters are the most important part of the play, as both the writer and the director have built incredible and vibrant people that can be very relatable. Osage county are all members of an extremely dysfunctional family, and treat each other terribly. Osage county the readers encounter many compelling and interesting characters.
Osage county by tracy letts is undoubtedly rich in text. For a dialogueheavy film with maybe 10 seconds of actual physical aggression, august. Osage county is a 20 american tragicomedy film directed by john wells. Osage county, inspired by the 2007 play of the same name. Osage county is a tensely satisfying comedy, interspersed with remarkable evocations on the cruelties and occasional. Osage county is a black comedy by american playwright tracy. Apr 18, 2019 winner of the 2008 pulitzer prize, tracy letts darkly comic drama august. The play premiered at the steppenwolf theatre in chicago on june 28, 2007, and closed on august 26, 2007. Its the story of the lives of three sisters that had to go back to their oklahoma house where they all grew up in because of the death of their father, while there they have to deal with their, cancerstricken, pillpopping highly dysfunctional mother who raised them. Osage county captures a family thats far from idyllic.
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