August: Osage County comes to Toronto
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 4:04 PM ET
CBC News
Shannon Cochran, left, Jeff Still and Estelle Parsons are shown in a scene from August: Osage County, which opens for a short run at Toronto's Canon Theatre on Thursday. (Robert J. Saferstein/Canadian Press)The acclaimed team behind Tracy Letts's August: Osage County has brought the dysfunctional family drama to Toronto, the latest stop on the award-winning play's North American tour.
Stage, film and TV actress Estelle Parsons has earned much acclaim as the play's sharp-tongued, drug-addicted matriarch Violet Weston. She took over the complex role from Deanna Dunagan in the Broadway production following the latter's 2008 Tony win.
The 81-year-old Parsons is an acting veteran who cut her teeth on Broadway before adding credits in film and television, including her Oscar-winning turn in Bonnie and Clyde and reoccurring role on television sitcom Roseanne.
While others her age might be winding down, Parsons has enjoyed both the play's Broadway run — which ended in June — and the tour, which began in the summer.
'I thought well why not? I used to be on Broadway all the time. I just thought why not try it?'—Estelle Parsons
"I thought well why not? I used to be on Broadway all the time. I just thought why not try it?" Parsons told CBC News about her decision to accept the tough, confrontational part.
"It's the same reason I went on Roseanne. I thought 'It's the No. 1 show.' I didn't really know what it was. What could be wrong with that?" said the four-time Tony nominee and American Theatre Hall of Famer.
Born at Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2007, August: Osage County tells the story of the troubled Westons, who reunite at the family's Oklahoma country home amid tragedy and face unraveling relationships and shocking revelations.
Following its move to Broadway in December 2007, the highly praised play then won a slew of honours and picked up five Tony Awards (including best play for creator Letts, who also won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for the unflinching, darkly comic story). The play also had a U.K. run in London.
"I've always tried — with my life, in my work with the theatre and on film — I try to work with really wonderful people," Parsons said.
Eyes Stratford
One of the people she'd like to work with is Canadian Des McAnuff. In an interview, Parsons acknowledged that once the August: Osage County tour ends, she is interested in performing at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where McAnuff serves as artistic director.
"I always wanted to work there," she told The Canadian Press.
"I had written down two, three or four things that I wanted to talk to [McAnuff] about, but I haven't yet. I better do that now."
August: Osage County opens at Toronto's Canon Theatre on Thursday and continues through Nov. 15. Subsequent stops on its North American tour include Washington, Dallas, Tulsa, Okla. and Chicago.
With files from The Canadian Press
