Steppenwolf Theatre Company's AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY To Play Sydney Theatre Company 8/13-9/12/2010

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announced its Pulitzer and Tony Award®-winning American play August: Osage County by ensemble member Tracy Letts and directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, will play a one-month engagement at Australia's acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company from August 13 through September 12, 2010. For ticket information and a performance schedule, visit http://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/. Casting will be announced at a later date.

"We are delighted to welcome the legendary Steppenwolf, one of America's truly great theatre ensembles, with their production of August: Osage County," said Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Directors Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett. "We're excited that Australian audiences will have the opportunity to experience members of the Steppenwolf ensemble in Tracy Letts' extraordinary play which is surely destined to join the canon of great American drama."

August: Osage County is the grand and gripping tale of the Weston family, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead after the disappearance of the family patriarch. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with matriarch Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of the storm. August: Osage County is a rare theatrical event: a large-scale work filled with 13 unforgettable characters, a powerful tragicomedy told with unflinching honesty and the unforgettable breakthrough of a major American playwright.

The Sydney Theatre Company production will feature the original Chicago and Broadway design team: Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann G. Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound), David Singer (original music) and Chuck Coyl (fight choreography).

August: Osage County premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois in 2007, earning playwright Tracy Letts the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Following its sold-out run in Chicago, August: Osage County transferred to Broadway where it played an impressive 666 performances and garnered five 2008 Tony Awards® including Best Play. August also played a sold-out eight-week engagement at London's prestigious National Theatre and is currently on a 38-week North American tour.

Sydney Theatre Company has been a major force in Australian drama since 1978. Operating from its home venue, The Wharf, on Sydney Harbour, where it produces a diverse year-round program of work, STC is also Resident Drama Company of the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre and produces and programs work at its state-of-the-art Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay. Sydney Theatre Company regularly co-produces and tours its productions throughout Australia and internationally. Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett have been Artistic Directors since January 2008.

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 textual adaptation. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.

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