Dear Followers of August in New York
Posted by Jeff Perry on 12/20/2007You guys, the response to August: Osage County has been downright SURREAL…we couldn’t have paid our own mothers to pen the now dozens of incandescent reviews we have received (including the #1 entry in Time Magazine’s 10 Best Theater Shows of 2007)…We sold 1.8 million dollars of tickets in our first six days and the list of backstage visits has a People magazine glow; playwright Conor McPherson, Mike Nichols, Elaine Stritch, Ian McShane, Winnie Holzman and family (creator of My So-Called Life and book writer of Wicked) Bernadette Peters, and on and on–teachers, relatives both near and long lost, fellow artists, celebrities…
One of my personal favorite aspects of all of this hoopla has been the press and audience response to the ensemble work in the play. I remember scouring about 25 reviews in 1984 (or 1985?) when we opened Balm in Gilead Off-Broadway, looking for some, any, appreciation of the ‘cirque du soleil’ ensemble work necessary to make that play fly and of course simultaneously looking for NY appreciation of why Steppenwolf exists ….NOT A WORD would I find, only the usual spotlight on 3 or 4 performances in generally glowing reviews…WELL, THIS TIME there has hardly been a mention of our play without gorgeous gushing appreciation of the ensemble work inherent and of the national treasure singularity of our dear Steppenwolf as a theater…
Sometimes I guess ya gotta wait till you’re grey, but it sure is sweet whenever it comes…
Below are my answers to some questions for our NY website for your amusement….if you all have specific questions for us actors, post them here and we’ll do our best to answer !
1. What were the challenges in becoming a member of the Steppenwolf family?
Surviving our university theater department I guess…that’s a joke….loooved our nutsy ISU….Gary Sinise and I fell in love with “pretending” back in high school together. He started a community theater with high school mates, I went off to the cornfields of Normal, Illinois, and met most the first two generations of ensemble members. Terry Kinney, Gary and I ended up organizing the first group two years after doing Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead together as part of the Steppenwolf Community Theatre.
2. Was the transfer to New York in any way like going on a giant family trip?
The lead up to the transfer was quintessentially “Steppenwolfian” in that we actors had to sit in our Upstairs Theatre two or three times to hash out what we wanted to do with three pretty wonderful offers from three producing entities…I thought that was an example of the great old-fashioned Steppenwolf family table in action; y’know, the inmates running the asylum and speaking their minds.
3. How have the relationships evolved over the course of the Chicago run and now on Broadway? Both onstage and off.
No one’s admitting that they can’t stand each other which is essential for backstage harmony…Amy’s ready to kill me but I like to think it’s just her great ability to empathize with Barbara’s tribulations.
4. Even the most spite-filled families have some form of affection. How do the Westons show their love?
Oh, drug interventions I guess. Throwing Little Charles under the bus to see if he’ll bounce back, things like that….
5. What is the root of your character’s unhappiness, and how do you tap into that as an actor?
I want the audience to tell me what they experience as opposed to telling them what I feel, so let me avoid this question and maybe we can invite feedback from rabid August fans !
6. Can you talk about the role the audience plays as a member of the family?
It’s a pretty wonderful/mysterious tango you try to achieve nightly. You can’t go looking for them or their approval because after all, they paid us to present the story and yet their laughter and the particular energy of their attention–their silences especially–write the play each night. For instance, the other night there was a really macabre audience contingent responding to some of the gravest events in the play with laughter and it led, here and there, to us sitting on the silences that followed that laughter in order to remind everyone, each other and audience, where we were in the story.
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
great SHOW!!!
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:59 pm
There are rumors about taking the show to London (please do).
)
How about a US tour? I know Steppenwolf took several productions to LA/SF, how about this one? Is a national tour possible? (my friend from Texas would like to see it in Dallas
Jolanda
December 28th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Just saw the show tonight in NY. So many people I know have seen it and gave rave reviews (and these are theatre snobs). The play was mesmorizing, hilarious, poignant, the characters spot on. As we left, I overheard a woman say, “That was the best play I’ve ever seen.” And she wasn’t young.
I’d have to agree with her.
Bravo…
January 16th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Hello Steppenwolf, I grew up in Highland Park and served as a prop and grip on some of our highschool plays. I saw August: Osage County yesterday and it was great, that brought me to the blog here. I well remember Steppenwolf’s first production in a church basement. It is wonderful to know such brilliant actors and America’s best repertory theater was born in my highschool.
I just wanted to note some memories of mine, as to how Steppenwolf was born. I think not only were unusually talented actors/directors in our highschool, one of those mystical accidents of life like the Beatles, where outsize talents meet and connect at a young age, but there was a drama teacher who is in my memory an “unsung Milton.” Her name was Barbara Nora Greener. She was larger than life. She had teased up blond hair and she wore so much Aliage perfume , you could smell it two hallways away
. She was not typical of our highschool to say the least, but she was much loved. She was imbued with energy and vision and in our highschool at that time, we were going through a period of intense ennui. It was an upper middle class suburb, and there was a long glass hallway connecting two parts of the school. Kids would cut class, smoke pot, and sit in the glass hallway with their fancy, chic, torn jeans. There was no prom. The only place that was percolating with energy was the drama department, because of Mrs. Greener. The school constantly put on plays. Derin Altay, who went on to understudy for Evita and I’m not sure what has happened to her since, and Kathie Borowitz, who is married to John Turturro and is herself a fine actress, also came out of our highschool. Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry were two incredible actors who went on to start something that became truly great in the American arts. But I want to give my nod here to Mrs. Greener, who created a place where we all wanted to be, so that even me, an introvert and a writer, wanted to be a prop or grip on every show, because the drama department was where life itself was happening in our highschool at that moment in time so many years ago.
Anyway it was impressive to see the great ensemble work and the masterful production of this play; over the years Steppenwolf has brought many great plays to NYC, perhaps some of the best Broadway has seen.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Jill,
You will be happy to know that Mrs. Greener was in attendance at Steppenwolf’s 30th Anniversary Gala. Jeff and Gary felt it exceptionally important to have Barbara in attendance to celebrate the success their childhood dream that materialized into our great Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Knowing that young minds in an environment like Mrs. Greener’s classroom can evolve into profound artistic voices makes me insanely excited to see what is in store for the members of Steppenwolf’s Young Adult Council in years to come. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot to look forward to in the future! Thank you for sharing your story and sentiments!
-Lori Davidson
Director of Event Management
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
January 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Lori, that is totally cool. I can’t imagine how wonderful she must have felt. I’m so glad they honored her.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
To all of the wonderful cast,
I saw you again tonight in great form–having seen you two nights in a row in November, right before the strike, I didn’t think the performances could be better. I didn’t want my husband to miss such a great show, so I planned another trip from California so he could see you together. All I can say is that your great performances have become richer, deeper, more tender and more heartbreaking. Congratulations!