Tracy Letts’ remarkable “August: Osage County” fits the mold of a particularly American type of masterpiece. It has all the drug abuse and family disfunction of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey” to much less dour effect. There’s the requisite anger and regret, and before the curtain comes down, a host of family secrets are revealed. At turns howlingly funny, bitter, and searing in its insight, “Osage” requires a brave and skilled ensemble. Happily, the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild and director Adam Shatraw have assembled one.
“August: Osage County” was first performed by Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2007 and moved to Broadway, where it ran for 648 performances and won a Pulitzer Prize. When performed well, as it is at BTG, the three act, more than three hour drama is an investment of time for the audience that pays off in spades.
Although the main action takes place over several days, the play feels like it’s unfolding in real time. It deconstructs the Weston family of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Weston patriarch Beverly, a once famous poet, (Michael O’Neill) sets the table in a tour-de-force monologue. He explains to Johnna, the young Native American he is hiring as a housekeeper that, “My wife takes pills and I drink. That’s the bargain we’ve struck.” That wife, Violet, is a chain smoker with mouth cancer. She also keeps the house so hot in the summer that even pet parakeets die.
Not long after hiring Johnna, Beverly Weston disappears, and the three Weston daughters, wounded birds all, having grown up in a toxic household, arrive with their significant others to learn that their father is dead.
Middle daughter Ivy (Krystal Scott Wadsworth) is the first to arrive to a barrage of criticism from her mother. Eldest Barbara (Shannon Tompkins) is accompanied by husband Bill (John Triana) and fourteen year old daughter Jean (Mariah Robbins). The youngest, Karen, (Dani Ryan) can’t look beyond her own romantic life with creepy Steve (Aaron Pierce) to mourn her dad.
Also among the gathered is Mattie Fae, Violet’s sister played by Kathy Egloff (Egloff is having a banner and busy year. Just a couple weeks ago, she, along with castmate Triana, turned in a hilarious performance in “Plaza Suite” with CNY Playhouse). She’s joined by her genial husband, Charlie (Byron Petroroja). Their hapless adult son, Little Charles (Jay Merante) oversleeps and misses the funeral.
Amid the chaos, the stoic Johnna (Sarah Anson-Ordon) remains the household’s moral center. Sheriff Deon Gilbeau (Jordan Glaski) enters with bad news and stays to shyly flirt with high school sweetheart Barbara.
In “Osage,” Letts has created thirteen living and breathing characters, each with their own foibles. Violet is a true original, a monster mother who lurches from drugged incoherence to savage focus when it suits her. Petite Binaifer Dabu rises to what seems ten feet tall in a snarling and defiant performance that can send chills up the spine. Although the entire cast is uniformly excellent, at BTG Dabu’s Violet and Tompkins as eldest Barbara sustain the emotional fireworks. Barbara, seethe with anger and vibrates with grief. The character and the actress rise to the occasion.
In lesser hands, “August: Osage County” can become an unruly three ring circus. When all or most of the characters are onstage things can spin out of control into gross caricature, but director Shatraw proves to be an able and insightful ringmaster. This production walks the sweet line between black comedy and American tragedy.
The Details
What: “August: Osage County” presented by the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild.
Where: The Presbyterian Education Center, 64 Oswego St., Baldwinsville.
When seen: In a preview on Thursday, May 1.
Length of performance: 3 hour 20 minutes with two intermissions.
Family guide: This is mature stuff. The ideas are sometimes disturbing and the dialogue is sprinkled with vulgarities and sexual allusions. There is an unseen sexual assault..
Runs through: May 11.
Information: 315-877-8465, www.baldwinsvilletheatreguild.org
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