Results tagged “augustosagecounty”

Last week was a big week for Chicago plays on Broadway. Steppenwolf’s Superior Donuts opened at The Music Box Theatre, the same venue where August: Osage County recently closed. Keith Huff’s A Steady Rain, which ran at Chicago Dramatists last year, opened at Gerald Shoenfeld Theater, and Brighton Beach Memoirs, helmed by Chicago director-of-the-moment David Cromer, began previews Friday.

The omnipresent Chicago-born international phenomenon August: Osage County will travel to Sydney, Australia next year for a one month engagement at Australia's Sydney Theatre Company. The same design team from the Steppenwolf and Broadway production will go down under with the show. Fun fact: Cate Blanchett and her husband, Andrew Upton, are the artistic directors for the company.

Steppenwolf and Tracy Letts received their millionth award together - not really but it feels that way - for Superior Donuts, which takes August: Osage County’s place on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in October. Superior Donuts won a citation, i.e. “runner up,” for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Award, administered by the American Theatre Critics Association. The award comes with $7,500, which isn’t a hefty sum considering Broadway tickets cost about half that. Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, which premiered at the Goodman last fall and won this year’s Pulitzer, was also named one of the 2008-2009 Best Plays by The Best Plays Theater Yearbook, an annual publication celebrating American theater.

Tracy Letts’ epic August: Osage County will close its doors on Broadway this Sunday after 648 performances, making it one of the longest running plays in Broadway history. And while you might think we’re finally going to stop hearing about it now, you’re wrong.

Chicago theater has done it again. After the international success of Tracy Lett’s Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County, Lynn Nottage won the 2009 Pulitzer for her play Ruined, which premiered at the Goodman Theatre last fall. We don’t like to brag, but two Pulitzers in two years is a pretty good record.

Just as the hullabaloo surrounding last year’s “it” play August: Osage County dies down, Chicago takes on the Great White Way for a second time with the Goodman Theatre’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms. The show is scheduled to start performances on April 14 at the St. James Theatre with opening night on April 27, making the Tony Award eligibility cutoff by 3 days.

Between now and Wednesday, we're counting down the top 8 local stories that captivated us in 2008.

Congratulations to Steppenwolf, who was recently named the recipient of two major grants – each helping to fund unique initiatives and programs within the company.

The Chicago theater scene, already one of the most reputable in the country, continues to garner critical recognition. Apparently not content with settling for a Pulitzer Prize, Steppenwolf's hugely successful play, August: Osage County was nominated for seven Tony awards yesterday, including Best Play. Not to be outdone, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater was honored with this year's Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theater, the fourth Chicago-area theater to win the award (Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Victory Gardens).

The votes are in and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced today. The Chicago Tribune and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production August: Osage County were among them. The Tribune staff was awarded the Pulitzer for investigative reporting for "its exposure of faulty governmental regulation of toys, car seats and cribs, resulting in the extensive recall of hazardous products and congressional action to tighten supervision." Meanwhile, in the drama category, Tracy Letts's play, August: Osage County, which has since made a successful jump from Steppenwolf to Broadway, was the Pulitzer winner.