Hi! This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.
I don't know about any of my listeners, but every year around movie awards season I am introduced to one or two movie titles I had not heard about before. This year, one title in particular caught my attention. August: Osage County has been nominated for several prestigious awards, but did you know it was based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play? The library now has a copy if you're into reading the book (or script) before (or after!) seeing the movie.
August: Osage County is a play by Tracy Letts, and was first performed in 2007, making its way to Broadway by December of that year. It tells the story of a dysfunctional family living outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma during several weeks in August. Beverly (the husband) and Violet (the wife) are retirement aged patriarch and matriarch of the Weston family. Violet has cancer and is addicted to painkillers, making the relationship with her husband strained, to say the least. Meanwhile, Beverly is not handling the stress well and goes missing along with his fishing boat in an apparent suicide. The remaining members of the Weston family gather: three daughters with husbands and children plus Violet's sister and her family. Of course the rest of the family is no more functional than the parents and many conflicts ensue, and many long-buried secrets are brought to light.
This play has been compared to many written in the 1940s and 1950s by Eugene O'Neill, which means the story line may not end happily, but the reader (or viewer) is taken on a deep and emotional journey into the vibrant and conflicted lives of the characters.
You can get the script reviewed here, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay saying, "Thanks for checking us out!"
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts
ISBN: 9781559364669, 138 pages
Adult non-fiction, plays, scripts and literature section
I don't know about any of my listeners, but every year around movie awards season I am introduced to one or two movie titles I had not heard about before. This year, one title in particular caught my attention. August: Osage County has been nominated for several prestigious awards, but did you know it was based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play? The library now has a copy if you're into reading the book (or script) before (or after!) seeing the movie.
August: Osage County is a play by Tracy Letts, and was first performed in 2007, making its way to Broadway by December of that year. It tells the story of a dysfunctional family living outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma during several weeks in August. Beverly (the husband) and Violet (the wife) are retirement aged patriarch and matriarch of the Weston family. Violet has cancer and is addicted to painkillers, making the relationship with her husband strained, to say the least. Meanwhile, Beverly is not handling the stress well and goes missing along with his fishing boat in an apparent suicide. The remaining members of the Weston family gather: three daughters with husbands and children plus Violet's sister and her family. Of course the rest of the family is no more functional than the parents and many conflicts ensue, and many long-buried secrets are brought to light.
This play has been compared to many written in the 1940s and 1950s by Eugene O'Neill, which means the story line may not end happily, but the reader (or viewer) is taken on a deep and emotional journey into the vibrant and conflicted lives of the characters.
You can get the script reviewed here, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay saying, "Thanks for checking us out!"
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts
ISBN: 9781559364669, 138 pages
Adult non-fiction, plays, scripts and literature section
RSS Feed