August: Osage County

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Recipient

Grant Year 2009

Grant Amount $76,591

Status Completed

Updated May 30, 2023

The Kimmel Center presented the regional premiere of Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play August: Osage County, starring Oscar Award-winning actress Estelle Parsons, at the Forrest Theatre. In this densely plotted play, a father disappears, a mother falls prey to addiction, a marriage unravels, and a family approaches meltdown. A departure from the Kimmel's other touring Broadway productions, most of them musicals, August: Osage County reflected the organization's growing institutional commitment to the presentation of significant, adventurous theater.

Estelle Parsons contributed to a moderated discussion with local theater professionals while in town. She likened the play to a revue sketch, where an actor can "get out there, say the lines loud and clear, and act as if you know what you're talking about, and it works." To watch video snippets from this discussion with Parsons, click here, here, and here.

uestions of ractice

Interview

Questions of Practice: Estelle Parsons on Artistic Practice

Recipient

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is one of the most well-attended cultural venues in Philadelphia. Resident companies at the Kimmel include The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Philadelphia Ballet.

More info

Explore Connections

Nels Cline in performance at Royce Hall, Los Angeles. Photo by Phinn Sriployrung.

Guitarist Nels Cline on Musical Lineage

Video Tradition & Translation

Walking with Trane, Urban Bush Women. Photo by Gennia Cui.

Questions of Practice: Choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar on Art and Social Justice

Video Social & Community-Based Practices

Celebrating Poet Sonia Sanchez, plus Pew Fellows Earn Guggenheim Fellowships, Peabody Award, and More

Sonya Clark, The Descendants of Monticello, 2024, part of Declaration House, Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, PA. Photo by Steve Weinik, courtesy of Monument Lab.

Fall Arts Preview: From the Personal to the Historic, 17 Events to Add to Your Calendar

Pew Fellows Candice Iloh and Armando Veve. Photos by Neal Santos.

Fellow to Fellow: Candice Iloh and Armando Veve Find Inspiration in Each Other’s Mediums

Interview Cross-Disciplinary Practices

Enrique Bostelmann, Portrait of Cora Flores, 1980, part of Mirages series.

Projects in Process: Discoveries in the Archives with Berman Museum and Japan America Society

Essay Legacy & Archives

Side-by-side portraits of Sumi Tonooka and Phillip B. Williams.

Fellow to Fellow: Sumi Tonooka and Phillip B. Williams on Expanding Their Artistic Identities

Interview Practice & Process

Sinta Penyami Storms, 2022 Philadelphia's Cultural Treasures fellow.

Four Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures Fellows on Care and Community Impact

EgoPo Classic Theater, rehearsal for Ramayana with Papermoon Puppet Theatre and Kalanari Theatre Movement, 2023, Java, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of EgoPo.

Projects in Process: Wilma Theater and EgoPo on Creative Collaborations

Essay Co-Authorship & Collaboration