Phylicia Rashad Joins Broadway Cast of August: Osage County in May

Phylicia Rashad has been announced to step into the role of Violet Weston in the Broadway production of August: Osage County. Rashad will follow Deanna Dunagan and Estelle Parsons in the part and will join the show on May 26.

August: Osage County currently features Award- winning actresses Estelle Parsons and Elizabeth Ashley along with Guy Boyd, John Cullum, Johanna Day, Michael Milligan, Madeleine Martin, and Frank Wood and recently welcomed back original cast members Kimberly Guerrero, Brian Kerwin, Mariann Mayberry, Sally Murphy and Troy West, after they appeared in the West End production.

Phylicia Rashad is a native of Houston, Texas, received a B.F.A. from the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. Broadway credits include: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Cymbeline at Lincoln Center, Gem Of The Ocean (Tony nomination), A Raisin In The Sun, (Tony and Drama Desk Awards) Jelly's Last Jam, Into The Woods, Dream Girls, The Wiz, and Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death. She has appeared Off-Broadway: at the Public Theatre in The Story, Helen, and Everybody's Ruby; at the Roundabout Theater in Blue; and in Lincoln Center's Bernarda Alba.

Known to television audiences for her roles as "Clair Huxtable" (The Cosby Show) and "Ruth Lucas" (Cosby), Ms. Rashad has appeared in films for TV: A Raisin In The Sun, The Old Settler, Murder She Wrote, David's Mother, Jailbirds, False Witness, Polly, and Polly Comin' Home. Feature film credits include: Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored, The Visit and Loving Jezebel. Ms. Rashad serves as spokesperson for The PRASAD Project (an international philanthropic organization), and is a member of the Broadway Inspirational Voices.

Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics' Circle, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play was voted #1 play of the year by Time, The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, and TimeOut New York, Charles Isherwood of The New York Times has called August: Osage County "The most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years."

Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The Chicago company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of forty-one artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.

August: Osage County currently performs Tuesday at 7:00PM, Wednesday-Friday at 7:30PM, Matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00PM, Saturday at 8:00PM and Sunday at 3:00PM.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.