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Towngate Closes Season with “August: Osage County”

Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre, the Ohio Valley’s leading community theater, closes its 2017-18 season with the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning “August: Osage County” by Tracy Letts.

It will be staged for two weekends –May 11, 12 & 13 and May 18 & 19.

One of the most critically acclaimed plays in recent history, “August: Osage County” is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest—and absolute worst. When the patriarch of the Weston family disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the rural Oklahoma homestead to care for their afflicted, manipulative mother Violet. Long-held family secrets are revealed as the paranoid, pill-popping Violet reigns over the home.

Fiercely Funny within Tragic Situations

Community theater veteran Butch Maxwell directs the production. “The play is layered with multiple themes, including emotional violence, the fall of the patriarch and needing the fairytale, but at the heart of it – dysfunction, detachment and deadly symbiosis,” Maxwell said. “It’s a dark comedy, laced with irony, and fiercely funny within tragic situations.”

Each of characters is fully developed with his or her own transformative journey to take during the show.

“Most of the characters are smart and literate, but all of them are deeply flawed,” Maxwell explained. “The patriarch is a once-brilliant poet/professor turned passive alcoholic. His wife is a survivor of child abuse, a cancer patient and a prescription drug addict. Their three adult daughters all have residual issues from this upbringing, affecting their own choices in men. The matriarch’s sister is overbearing and verbally abusive to her own son, for reasons that become clear late in the play.”

See a Talented Cast of Local Actors

Maxwell has assembled a cast of remarkable local actors to portray these complex characters in intense, emotional scenes. He said the cast members must explore “a range of emotional challenges, deftly moving from intense drama to sharp comedy, often within the same scene.”

He added that the approach requires actors to “dig deeply within their own souls to explore what the characters are feeling, yet, at the same time, to ‘find the funny’ in even the darkest moments…”

John Reilly plays Beverly Weston and Judy Hennen plays Violet Weston. Vera Barton-Maxwell is oldest daughter Barbara Fordham; Pete Fernbaugh is Barbara’s husband Bill and Abbey Delk plays their daughter Jean Fordham. C.J. Farnsworth is middle sister Ivy Weston and Dana Applegate plays the youngest sister Karen Weston. Brigitte Mazure is Violet’s sister Mattie Fay Aiken; Justin Swoyer is Charlie Aiken and Jeremy Richter is Little Charles Aiken. Aimee Schultz is Johnna; Evan Oslund is Steve and Rob DeSantis is the sheriff.

“August: Osage County” premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago in June 2007 and had its Broadway debut at 2007. It received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama along with five Tony Awards, including Best Play. A film version of the play was released in 2013, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.

About Towngate Theatre

Towngate is the premiere venue for community theater in Wheeling. Enjoy an intimate theater experience. Marvel at and applaud the talent of local actors. Experience a variety of though-provoking, heartwarming, comedic and historically significant works from renowned playwrights and talented newcomers.

When watching a stage production, you are transported into a different world. Escape from reality and feel the energy created by sharing an intimate space with actors and fellow theatergoers. Live action happens right before your eyes. There’s no app for that! Furthermore, theater is a social experience meant to be shared with one another. So, bring your family and friends and meet new friends, too. And, most importantly, support your local actors, directors, stage managers, set and costume designers. They spend months working to bring characters and stories to life. Their efforts produce amazing art time and time again.

A church-turned-theater, Towngate is located in Wheeling’s historic Centre Market District. Towngate is a cornerstone of creative life in Wheeling and serves as an entertainment destination for residents of Wheeling, the Upper Ohio Valley and beyond. People of all ages and backgrounds gather here to create and experience art onstage.

At Towngate, you can watch live theater.  Listen to poetry and spoken word performances. Bring the kiddos to a children’s theater production. Attend a ballet. You can take a class or audition for a play. We also showcase improvisational comedy. Local and regional musicians also perform on the Towngate stage. You can see movies, too!  The Gallery at Towngate features changing art exhibits. Enjoy hundreds of live performances, concerts, events and classes year-round.

Get Tickets

Evening performances of “August: Osage County” take place at 8 p.m. May 11, 12, 18 and 19. A matinee performance takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 13. The show contains strong language, scenes of sexual nature and drug use and is for mature audiences only.

Purchase tickets online or call 304-242-7700. You can also purchase tickets at the door, if available.

Improv Spotlight: 2 Crazy 8s Perform Their Final Show

At 8pm Saturday, April 21, The Crazy 8s will take the stage at Towngate Theatre. This evening of improvisational comedy is certain to make you laugh.

While young members of the troupe are guaranteed to bring the funny, there is a some bittersweetness for this performance. It is the last show for two of the troupe members, who have been around for a long time.

With college just around the corner, Wheeling Park High School seniors Mary Prather and David Gaudio perform their final regular show with The Crazy 8s.

Both Mary and David joined The Crazy 8s in 2014 when they were 14 years old. The experience for them has been very beneficial, they said.

David Gaudio and Mary Prather.

“It’s been very freeing,” Mary said. “I used to have horrible stage fright, but that has all but vanished. Improv kind of reminds me that no matter how bad things go, you can always turn it around.”

“It’s kept me sane for the four craziest years of my life,” David said. “It’s given me a bit of confidence and made me a little more open to others. And it’s helped me realize how much I love teaching people stuff, which is what I want to do with my life at present. It’s shaped me in a lot of important ways and I can’t thank it enough for that.”

Mary said making friendships is one of the best things about her experience.

“Improv has helped me make a lot of close friends that I never would have had otherwise,” Mary said. “It’s a great feeling, knowing that you have a dozen or so people who have seen you at your absolute dumbest and still support you and want to be around you. No matter where I go or what I do, I know that the other Crazy 8s will always have my back.”

David thinks the skills that performing improv have given him will help him going forward in his life.

“A big part of improvisation is figuring out how to think on your feet and trust yourself, and those skills have already come in handy pretty often,” David said. “Sometimes it forces you to be more truthful and open than most people are comfortable with, and that, in turn, teaches you more about yourself. It also teaches you the values of listening to people, working well with a group, and keeping your mind open and thoughtful, all of which are skills that have helped me in countless ways.”

“If anything, it’s made coming up with excuses as to why I forgot my math homework much, much easier. So that alone has probably made it worth it,” he added.

David and Mary met as three-year-olds at Montessori School at Mt. de Chantal.

David plans to attend West Liberty University in the fall and hopes to continue on a path in the arts and performance.

He said he plans to “study acting, with a minor in singing…but these things are hard to decide.” He said he also thinks that he may one day like to be a teacher.

Mary has been accepted to Amherst College and said it seems likely that she will attend there in the fall.

Towngate Theatre director of performing arts Tim Thompson said that he has watched David and Mary grow up.

“They have been taking classes for at least 10 years and been Crazy 8s for four years,” Tim said. “They are the first in nine years of Crazy 8s to take on assistant directing the company and serving as hosts for the performances. They are both very talented, smart and above all…fearless!”

Mary and David both said that they will miss The Crazy 8s when they are finished.

“It’s been a wonderful experience in every possible way,” David said. “I’ve been a part of this group during some of its greatest high-points and most heartbreaking low-points and I wouldn’t change a second of any of it. But most of all I’m going to miss the people with all my heart. They’re all wonderful, and I can’t say enough good things about them. They’ve been undoubtedly the best part of my life for the last four years. Thanks, guys.”

Mary shared the sentiment. “The troupe is a collection of some of my best friends, and I’m going to miss them so much,” she said. “Not to mention, I’ve known Mr. Tim, our director, since I was a kid. He was my first director, and I’m going to miss having him to turn to. Honestly though, I could write a book on how much I’ll miss everyone. There are going to be some tears shed after this show.”

Laughs and tears…sounds like a great night.

GET TICKETS

Tickets for the show Saturday, April 21 are only $5 and on sale now. Purchase online or call 304-242-7700. You can buy tickets at the door, too.