Playwright Tracy Letts on August: Osage County

by Sheryl Flatow

Dinner at the home of Violet Weston is not for the faint-hearted. It is, however, a raucously good time for audiences of August: Osage County, Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The centerpiece of this dysfunctional family drama, the dinner scene—like the play itself—is harrowing, hilarious, and ultimately devastating, as barbs and taunts and stings are hurled in a manner both over the top and all too real. Ever since the early days of previews at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 2007, what happens around the family table at the end of the second act has engendered an audience response rarely encountered in contemporary theatre.

“In the beginning, the actors would come offstage buzzing with the audience,” says Letts. “They’d say, ‘It’s like a hockey match out there. It’s incredible.’ One of the things the actors were responding to was the breadth of experience out in the audience. Some people were holding their sides laughing. Other people were in tears, really upset by what they were seeing. And there was a lot of cross talk –people in the audience talking to one another during that scene, talking about the play to people that they didn’t even know. And not in an off-putting way, so that you wished they would just shut up. They were so caught up in what they were watching that they had to check in with their fellow audience members.”

August: Osage County is a big, bold tragicomedy that grabs the audience with its opening line – “Life is very long” – and holds on for a remarkably fast three-plus hours. Set in a large country home outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the play is about the pain family members inflict on each other and pass along from generation to generation. Causing most of the damage is the damaged Violet, a drug-addled monster of a mother. Her depleted husband, Beverly, who prefers drinks to drugs, walks out the door one morning and disappears. The Weston daughters and other family members gather around Violet, and the rancor and rage that spill forth have audiences laughing and cringing – often simultaneously – in horrified recognition.

The play is a “largely fictional” story of Letts’ family, and Violet is based on Tracy’s maternal grandmother. “She doesn’t talk much like my grandmother, but she hews very closely to my grandmother’s attitude and manner,” he says. “My grandmother was a piece of work. When I gave the play to my mother to read for the first time, I was very nervous about what her reaction would be. And her first response after reading it was, ‘I think you’ve been very kind to my mother.’”

Letts says that the act of writing the play gave him “a new love and respect” for his grandmother. “I think that the generation of people that Violet represents, especially that generation of women, suffered an awful lot of damage. And some of them, as in the case of Violet, found a way to take it out on succeeding generations. At one point my mother gave me a gift of my grandmother’s diary from when she was about 13 years old. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the diary. It’s the matter-of-fact, day-to-day experiences of a 13-year old girl living in poverty in Oklahoma. And its matter-of-factness makes it remarkable to me. She was just a little kid, with little kid ideas and dreams. And then I think about what she became as a result of her experiences, as a result of a lot of things that she went through.”

From the start, Letts envisioned August: Osage County as a huge, sweeping play. “I was telling a story based on experiences of my family and a lot of other families: Midwestern, Southern, Plains, Middle of America families,” says Letts, who is also a Tony Award-winning actor for his performance as George in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? “And as I was working out my story, I figured the best container for that story was the sprawling American drama, one that would take place over three acts and play out over a luxurious bit of time. So often when we get in the theatre we are told, ‘You’ve got to make it quick, you’ve got to get in and out.’ As an actor I’d done a lot of those pieces, and there was a part of me that started to rebel. Sometimes I really like that feeling of settling in to a long, good story, which makes for a rich, more luxurious theatre experience.”

August: Osage County is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed plays of the twenty-first century and has been produced all over the world. (There is also a well-received 2013 film adaptation with a screenplay by Letts and an all-star cast headed by Meryl Streep.) For all the accolades and awards, Letts says that the communal response of the audience means as much to him as anything. “That’s what I get most jazzed by,” he says. “It’s that shared experience. It’s the idea that we’re all in that room together, feeling these things, seeing things we recognize, or maybe being reminded of things we thought we’d gotten rid of. I hope audiences come away with that sense of community, not only with the people onstage, but the people sitting around them in the theatre.”

Palm Beach Dramaworks presents

by Tracy Letts

Cast

(In Order of Appearance)

Beverly Weston..................................................Dennis Creaghan*

Johnna Monevata....................................................Ryffin Phoenix

Violet Weston............................................................Sara Morsey*

Ivy Weston..............................................................Margery Lowe*

Mattie Fae Aiken....................................................Laura Turnbull*

Charlie Aiken....................................................Stephen Trovillion*

Barbara Fordham.............................................Kathy McCafferty*

Bill Fordham..............................................................Bruce Linser*

Jean Fordham.............................................................Allie Beltran

Sheriff Deon Gilbeau............................................David A. Hyland

Karen Weston.................................................................Niki Fridh*

Steve Heidebrecht........................................Christopher Daftsios*

Little Charles Aiken.................................................Iain Batchelor*

Setting

August 2007. A large country home outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma, sixty miles northwest of Tulsa.

Production Crew

Stage Manager ............................................................................. Kent James Collins*

Assistant Stage Manager.................................................................... Tyler B. Osgood

Head Stagehand........................................................................... Caroline Castleman

Wardrobe Supervisor .............................................................................John Santillan

Head Electrician ...................................................................................... Addie Pawlick

Dennis Creaghan

(Beverly Weston) has been a member of the PBD family for more than ten years, and was recently seen as Juror 9 in Twelve Angry Men. He has done over a dozen plays here, including the world premiere of The People Downstairs (Mr. Koophuis), Freud’s Last Session (Sigmund Freud), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (James Tyrone), and Of Mice and Men (Candy). Among his other favorites are A Delicate Balance, The Pitmen Painters, American Buffalo, and The Weir. He has worked extensively in all media across the country and in Europe, appearing with the legendary Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes in London's West End. He was seen on Broadway in the original productions of The Elephant Man and Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway. He has done more bad television than he cares to admit, but there were some good ones along the way, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, and several appearances on Law & Order.

RYFFIN PHOENIX

(Johnna) is a Navajo and Omaha writer and performer. She was born and raised on the beautiful lands of the Navajo Reservation. Her passion for storytelling led her to train in the craft of acting at the Speiser/Sturges Acting Studio in Los Angeles. Ryffin has performed in several productions for Native Voices at the Autry Museum and the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. Her most recent performance was in George R.R. Martin’s Dark Winds as Wanda McGinnis. She spends her free time writing short stories and screenplays.

SARA MORSEY (Violet Weston) is honored to make her PBD debut. Thirty-plus years in regional theatre include these most recent credits: rolling world premiere of Alabaster (Bib), Driving Miss Daisy (Daisy Werthan), And Then There Were None (Emily

Brent), Ripcord (Abby Binder), all at Florida Repertory Theatre where she is a member of the acting ensemble; The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion) at GableStage. Other theatre affiliations include Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Hippodrome Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, and the Indiana and Kentucky Shakespeare Festivals. International credits include An Enchanted Land (Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sex Female and I Like You, I Love You, Now Agree with Me with Black C Art Gallery at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, Bulgaria. MFA in acting from the University of Louisville.

Margery Lowe

(Ivy Weston) was most recently seen at GableStage in Heisenberg. She last appeared at PBD in the filmed and live productions of The Belle of Amherst ; the film was included in The Wall Street Journal's year-end list of “The Best Theatre of 2021.” An award-winning actress, Margery has performed in New York and across the country in various national tours, as well as at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, The Muny, Canadian Stage, the Fox Atlanta, Theatre Off Park, Sanford Meisner Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of Maine, Kansas City Starlight, Stages St. Louis, Maine State Theatre, Stage West, and many others. Florida credits include Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Zoetic Stage, Caldwell Theatre Company, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Actors' Playhouse, Naked Stage, American Stage, Florida Shakespeare, Royal Poinciana Playhouse, Parker Playhouse, and Stage Door Theatre. As a company member of the famed Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Margery received a Tyrone Guthrie Award. She is a Carbonell Award winner, a Silver Palm winner, and was named New Times Best Actress and Broadway World Best Actress. Margery also works in film, television, and as a voice-over artist. margerylowe.com

LAURA TURNBULL

(Mattie Fae Aiken) has appeared at PBD in Indecent, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Zorba!, A Delicate Balance, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-theMoon Marigolds (with her daughter, Arielle Hoffman), and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (with her husband, Avi Hoffman). She was most recently seen in the world premiere of Michael McKeever’s American Rhapsody at Zoetic Stage, and Milk and Honey at The Wick Theatre. Laura has worked at nearly every professional theatre in South Florida (including Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Actors’ Playhouse, and GableStage), as well as on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in national tours, regional theatres, and on television and film. She is a proud, long-standing member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

STEPHEN TROVILLION

(Charlie Aiken) is making his PBD debut. Broadway: Ted Cleveland, Jr. in The Young Man From Atlanta. Chicago: Drew in Eastern Standard (Joseph Jefferson Best Actor nomination), Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart at The Next Theatre, and Lucio in Measure for Measure at Chicago Shakespeare. Florida: Lord Sturman in The Clearing at Florida Stage, 16 seasons of City Theatre's Summer Shorts (two Carbonell nominations), Man in Now and Then at Actors’ Playhouse, and Papa Frank/Terrence Ray in American Rhapsody at Zoetic Stage. Oncamera work includes episodic television and commercials. Stephen has an MFA in acting from DePaul University, taught at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, and is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA.

KATHY McCAFFERTY

(Barbara Fordham)

Previously at PBD: Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Regina in The Little Foxes, and Rosemary in Outside Mullingar. She is thrilled to be back! Kathy recently starred in the premiere of Ronán Noone’s Thirst, directed by Theresa Rebeck, at Dorset Theatre Festival and at the Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival. Broadway/National tour: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center Theater, 59E59. Regional theatre includes Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, the Ahmanson Theatre, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Portland Stage, Premiere Stages, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Bay Street Theater, Shadowland Stages, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Boise Contemporary Theater, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and many others. TV/ Film: The Gilded Age, Little America, House of Cards, 30 Rock, Law & Order: CI, Law & Order: SVU, Dates Like This, The Onion News

BRUCE LINSER (Bill Fordham) was most recently seen at PBD as Juror 12 in Twelve Angry Men, Henk in the world premiere of The People Downstairs, and Artie in The House of Blue Leaves. This past summer, he played Jane/Lord Edgar in The Mystery of Irma Vep at Island City Stage. Other favorite roles include Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone (The Wick Theatre), Cliff in Cabaret (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Renoir in The Impressionists (Caldwell Theatre Company), and numerous roles at FAU’s Festival Repertory Theatre including Che in Evita, Bobby in Company, and Malvolio in Twelfth Night. As a director, favorite productions include Man of La Mancha and Avenue Q (MNM Theatre Company), and The Science of Leaving Omaha, Woody Guthrie’s American Song, and The Spitfire Grill (PBD). Bruce is also the manager of PBD’s The Dramaworkshop, dedicated to the development of new plays. brucelinser.com

ALLIE BELTRAN (Jean Fordham) is delighted to make her return to the PBD stage. She will be graduating from the University of Florida in the spring with BAs in theatre and economics (with a financial focus), and a minor in dance. Favorite credits include Eurydice (Eurydice), Cabaret (Fritzie, Sally understudy, Fight Captain), Fireflies (Narrator), A Christmas Carol (Ghost of

Christmas Past, Solicitor, Martha, Fred’s Wife), I Miss All My Entrances (Jess), Antigone (Eurydike, Antigone understudy), Michael Feinstein and the Palm Beach Pops (featured dancer), and, of course, Our Town (Rebecca Gibbs), her PBD debut. Special thanks to all the beautiful people that support her. Love you, Betty. Hi, Donna! Instagram: @allie.beltran

DAVID A. HYLAND

(Sheriff Deon Gilbeau, Fight Choreographer) is the Chair of the Theatre Department at Palm Beach State College. He was previously seen at PBD as The Visitor in The Spitfire Grill, Herr Fahrenkopf in The Night of the Iguana, Sam Craig in Our Town, Karl Lindner in A Raisin in the Sun, and Frank in All My Sons. Additionally, Dave was recently the fight choreographer for Twelve Angry Men and Almost, Maine, understudying the male roles in the latter. He has also been seen in South Florida at Theatre Lab, playing Roger in Tar Beach. Other notable credits include Edward in Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Eddie in Fool for Love, and Benedick and Dogberry in a six-actor version of Much Ado About Nothing. David also performs regularly with an improv theatre group called Mod 27 and holds an MFA in acting from The Ohio State University.

NIKI FRIDH (Karen

Weston) is delighted to be returning to PBD, where she was previously seen in last season’s production of Almost, Maine. Niki has received two Carbonell Awards (and six nominations), and is a four-time recipient of the Silver Palm Award. Some of her memorable appearances include To Fall in Love, Most Wanted, and The Revolutionists at Theatre Lab; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Trust at Zoetic Stage; Grounded and Vita & Virginia at Thinking Cap Theatre; White Rabbit Red Rabbit at Urbanite Theatre; The Book Club Play at Actors’ Playhouse; Summer Shorts 2014 at City Theatre; and Shorts Gone Wild 1, 2, and 3 at Island City Stage/City Theatre. Up next, she will be playing the title role at Island City Stage’s production of Tracy Jones. Niki is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

CHRISTOPHER DAFTSIOS (Steve Heidebrecht) is delighted to make his PBD debut. OffBroadway includes Urban Stages, Theatre Row, John Houseman Theatre, Anne L. Bernstein Theater, Mint Theater, and Town Hall. Regional: TheatreWorks (Palo Alto), John Drew Theatre (Guild Hall), Chicago Dramatists, Shadowland Theatre, Forestburgh Playhouse, Luna Stage, New Century Theatre, The Gilbert. Film/TV: Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, The Equalizer, Royal Pains, Conviction, A Haunting, Ball and Vase (opposite Austin Pendleton). Playwright: Lily, produced by NJ Rep, select monologues published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in The Best Men's Monologues from New Plays 2020; and Circus Dreams, produced by NJ Rep, published by Smith and Kraus in the 2018 Theatre Brut Anthology. Christopher recently finished shooting a co-starring role on FBI (CBS), and the lead in the feature film Get Real, which will be released on Amazon Prime later this year. He is a proud member of SAGAFTRA, Actors’ Equity, the Dramatists Guild, and The Actors Studio.

IAIN BATCHELOR (Little Charles Aiken) is delighted to be making his mainstage debut at PBD in such a monumental play. Most recently, Iain appeared in the New Year/New Plays Festival as Robert T. Lincoln in Bill Cain’s Crossing Ebenezer Creek. Notable theatre credits include Murder on the Orient Express (Actors’ Playhouse); The White Card (GableStage); The Rivals (Arcola Theatre, UK); Edward II (National Theatre, UK); Billy Budd (Southwark Playhouse, UK); Richard III, King John (Royal Shakespeare Company, UK); and King Lear (Leeds Playhouse, UK). Iain is known for his role as Thomas Seymour in the Emmy-nominated BBC series Wolf Hall (2015), as well as for his work on Doctors (BBC), The Coroner (BBC), and The White Princess (STARZ). Films include Allied (2016) and Assassin’s Creed (2016). Iain is also the voice of Marcus Stuyvesant in the award-winning video game series, Hitman (IO Interactive). Instagram: @iain___b

WILLIAM HAYES

(Director) is the producing artistic director and a founding member of PBD. He has directed some 50 productions for the company: his credits run the gamut of playwrights from A (Edward Albee) to Z (Paul Zindel), and include William Inge, Eugène Ionesco, David Mamet, Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson. Bill is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Florida Professional Theatre Association’s Richard G. Fallon Award for Excellence in Professional Theatre (2017), a Silver Palm Award presented by the South Florida Theatre League “for his outstanding work as Producing Artistic Director” of PBD (2014), and, with Sue Ellen Beryl, the REMY Pioneer Award presented by the South Florida Theatre League (2015). Bill served two terms as president of the Florida Professional Theatres Association, and is a national ambassador for The Actors Fund. He began his career as an actor, and returned to the stage earlier this season in PBD’s acclaimed production of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men.

Tracy Letts

(Playwright) received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for August: Osage County. Other plays include The Minutes (Pulitzer finalist), Linda Vista, Mary Page Marlowe, The Scavenger’s Daughter, Superior Donuts, Man From Nebraska (Pulitzer finalist), Bug, and Killer Joe. Several of his plays premiered at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where he has been a member since 2002. Also an acclaimed actor, Letts won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in a revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He’s also appeared on Broadway in his play The Minutes, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, and Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses. A short list of his Steppenwolf credits includes David Mamet’s American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, and Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman. Letts has also written screenplays (including The Woman in the Window and the film adaptation of August: Osage County), and appeared on the big screen (Ford v Ferrari, Little Women, The Post, and Lady Bird ) and small screen (Divorce).

KENT JAMES COLLINS (Stage Manager) is grateful to be back for his second season at PBD, where he previously stage managed The Science of Leaving Omaha, Twelve Angry Men, The Duration, and Almost, Maine. Other credits include Norwegian Cruise Line, Universal Orlando Resort, The REV Theatre Company, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Delaware Theatre Company, Sacramento Theatre Company, and Florida Repertory Theatre. BFA in musical theatre, University of Central Florida. Creator of Half Hour Call on YouTube. Proud member of Actors’ Equity. Thanks to Bill, Sue Ellen, Lara, Tyler, and the entire PBD team. kentjamescollins.com

MICHAEL AMICO (Scenic Design) most recently designed the sets for The Science of Leaving Omaha, The Belle of Amherst, Intimate Apparel (Carbonell nomination), The Duration, Almost, Maine, The People Downstairs, Ordinary Americans, Fences, Indecent, Woody Guthrie’s American Song, Edgar & Emily, The Little Foxes, Sweeney Todd, and The Night of the Iguana (Carbonell nomination) for PBD. Previous seasons here include 1776, Picnic (Carbonell nomination), The Lion in Winter, Of Mice and Men, Talley's Folly (Carbonell Award), The Pitmen Painters, All My Sons (Carbonell nomination), The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Gin Game, American Buffalo, Copenhagen, Private Lives, The Weir, The Chairs (Carbonell nomination), A Moon for the Misbegotten (Carbonell nomination), and Seascape. He has designed scenery for theatres throughout Florida, including Aida at Actors’ Playhouse, Dial M for Murder, and Deathtrap at Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Fully Committed at the Broward Center, As Thousands Cheer at the Kravis Center, Benedict Arnold at Florida Stage, Ten Unknowns at Florida Studio Theatre, and Beguiled Again at Riverside Theater.

BRIAN O’KEEFE (Costume Design) began designing for PBD in 2009, became costume shop manager and resident designer in 2015, and has designed over 60 shows here. He has received 11 Carbonell Award nominations, winning for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Lion in Winter, and A Doll's House, and was a Silver Palm Award recipient in 2022. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, he spent his earlier career as a patternmaker for the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC and major costume houses in New York, including Barbara Matera, Ltd.,

Parsons-Meares, Michael-Jon Costumes, and Eaves-Brooks. He was later resident designer, principal patternmaker, and shop manager for Seaside Music Theatre in Daytona Beach, spending 16 years designing over 75 productions and supervising 90 more. Other regional design credits: Playmakers Repertory Theatre, Orlando Repertory Theatre, Winter Park Playhouse, St. Augustine's Limelight Theatre, University of Central Florida. Other regional patterning credits: Alabama and Utah Shakespeare festivals, and Stages St. Louis.

KIRK BOOKMAN (Lighting Design) For PBD, he has designed The Science of Leaving Omaha, Twelve Angry Men, 4000 Miles, The Belle of Amherst, Intimate Apparel, The Duration, Almost, Maine, The People Downstairs, A Streetcar Named Desire, The House of Blue Leaves, Equus, Satchmo at the Waldorf, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, and Buried Child. Maltz Jupiter Theatre: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Glengarry Glen Ross. NYC: American Dance Machine at the Joyce Theater; Closer Than Ever at The York Theatre Company; Company with the New York Philharmonic starring Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone (subsequently broadcast in movie theatres nationwide); Charles Busch’s The Divine Sister, Shanghai Moon, and The Tribute Artist. Broadway: The Sunshine Boys (with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall), The Gin Game (with Julie Harris and Charles Durning), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. San Francisco Symphony and PBS: The Thomashefskys with Michael Tilson Thomas. Many productions for Pittsburgh Public Theater and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

ROGER ARNOLD (Sound Design) has been a freelance sound engineer and designer for over 35 years. He is a voting member of both NARAS (the Grammys) and the Audio Engineering Society (AES.org). Roger became an educator of music technology in 2006 and was the senior music technology professor at the University of New Haven. During his tenure there, he designed and provided sound for The Rocky Horror Show, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Spring Awakening. In 2018, he relocated to South Florida, and in 2019 he became sound engineer and resident sound designer for PBD, where his credits include The Science of Leaving Omaha, Twelve Angry Men, 4000 Miles, The Belle of Amherst, Intimate Apparel, The Duration, Almost, Maine, The People Downstairs, and Skylight. BA in music and sound recording, University of New Haven. MA in music technology, University of Newcastle.

TYLER B. OSGOOD (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be spending his second season with PBD. Regional credits include the One Humanity Tour (2022), The Science of Leaving Omaha, Twelve Angry Men, 4000 Miles, The Belle of Amherst, Intimate Apparel, The Duration, Almost, Maine, and The People Downstairs at PBD; The Sound of Music, Songs Under the Stars, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, Holiday Heroes 2019, A Christmas Carol 2019, and Sunday in the Park with George at ZACH Theatre; A Wrinkle in Time, A Christmas Carol 2018, Detroit ’67, and The Age of Innocence at McCarter Theatre. Tyler is a proud graduate of Texas State University, where he earned his BFA in theatre technology and production.

Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and state managers employed in this production.

AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org.

“The child comes home and the parent puts the hooks in him. The old man, or the woman, as the case may be, hasn’t got anything to say to the child. All he wants is to have that child sit in a chair for a couple of hours and then go off to bed under the same roof. It’s not love. I am not saying that there is not such a thing as love. I am merely pointing to something which is different from love but which sometimes goes by the name of love. It may well be that without this thing which I am talking about there would not be any love. But this thing in itself is not love. It is just something in the blood. It is a kind of blood greed, and it is the fate of a man. It is the thing which man has which distinguishes him from the happy brute creation. When you got born your father and mother lost something out of themselves, and they are going to bust a hame trying to get it back, and you are it. They know they can’t get it all back but they will get as big a chunk out of you as they can. And the good old family reunion, with picnic dinner under the maples, is very much like diving into the octopus tank at the aquarium.”

—Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men