White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Mayhem, fun, dysfunction, and genius at the White Plains Performing Arts Center

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. Theatrical Review by Renee Marks Cohen October 6, 2012: Don’t miss the White Plains Performing Arts Center production of “August: Osage County,” Tracy Letts’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winner (Best Play, and four more). “August” is the opener for the WPPAC’s special 10th anniversary season; this is the venue for the New York regional premier of the play. A Taste of “August” From left, the actors are Amanda Yachechak, Daniel Mian, Mark Lanham, Peter McClung, Derek Robert Smith, Laura Cable, Robin Lilly, and Suzy Kimball. Peter McClung as Uncle Charlie and Amanda Yachechak as the Native American housekeeper are extremely strong in their portrayal of wise individuals navigating amidst hellish chaos. Uncle Charlie protects his son, a late bloomer, from the verbal viciousness of others. The housekeeper is meditatively focused on doing her job with kindness. Photo, Courtesy White Plains Performing Arts Center by Kathy Davisson. All is not OK in a hot hot northern Oklahoma August. The Weston family is driven together to await the return of a missing father, who is a poet, professor, and openly alcoholic. The matriarch, Violet, is a long-time pill-popper. Three daughters, an aunt, significant others, a niece, and a household helper complete the Weston dance of dysfunction. This is a semi-gothic household where the window shades are taped shut, because day and night do not matter. The scenery—three levels—is superb, as is, I stress, each and every cast member. Will you judge this family’s dysfunction against your own experience? You will rivet your focus on scenes where the family sits at the dining room table, in ensembles of entropy. All the scenes are a funny unraveling of secrets and lies. Congratulations to the cast and to Jeremy Quinn, who is the Director and WPPAC’s Producing Artistic Director. When “August” opened in New York in 2007, the New York Times called it “the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years.” Variety said it was “darkly delicious and ghastly.” Playwright Tracy Letts’s father, Dennis, played the role of the patriarch in the original Chicago cast. “August” is on stage at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. 8 p.m. Oct. 5-6 and 12-13; 2 p.m. Oct. 7 and 14. To order tickets call 914 328-1600; or go online at www.wppac.com or visit the Box Office at 11 City Place, City Center, 3rd floor, White Plains. Recommended for those ages 16 and older. Yes, there will be a movie soon, produced by George Clooney and The Weinstein Company. Visit http://vimeo.com/12892186 to see and hear Howard Starks reading his poem “August: Osage County,” which inspired the play’s title.


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