EPISODE · Nov 2, 2009 · 1H
Tracy Letts (#241) - November, 2009
from ATW - Downstage Center · host American Theatre Wing
Tracy Letts, author of "Superior Donuts" and "August: Osage County" (for which he won a Tony Award in 2008), talks about writing Donuts as his first "Chicago" play in homage to his adopted home city. He also discusses his childhood with his mother and father, college professors who would forge second careers as novelist and actor respectively; his own dual career as actor and playwright and why he won't appear in one of his own plays; the impact of joining Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Company; how his early plays Killer Joe and Bug, and their reception in England, included him in part of a mini-movement that included Mark Ravenhill and Sarah Kane; what he thinks of the film version of Bug; how much of August: Osage County is based on his family's own history; why he creates characters who have difficulty articulating their thoughts and feelings -- including the hyper-articulate ones; and whether after the avalanche of publicity in the wake of August's international success, he thinks he has anything left to say.
What this episode covers
Tracy Letts, author of "Superior Donuts" and "August: Osage County" (for which he won a Tony Award in 2008), talks about writing Donuts as his first "Chicago" play in homage to his adopted home city. He also discusses his childhood with his mother and father, college professors who would forge second careers as novelist and actor respectively; his own dual career as actor and playwright and why he won't appear in one of his own plays; the impact of joining Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Company; how his early plays Killer Joe and Bug, and their reception in England, included him in part of a mini-movement that included Mark Ravenhill and Sarah Kane; what he thinks of the film version of Bug; how much of August: Osage County is based on his family's own history; why he creates characters who have difficulty articulating their thoughts and feelings -- including the hyper-articulate ones; and whether after the avalanche of publicity in the wake of August's international success, he thinks he has anything left to say.
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Tracy Letts (#241) - November, 2009
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