‘August: Osage County’ Was On Director’s Bucket List

For Brent Wooldridge, directing “August: Osage County” is a dream come true for a play director.

He calls it his “bucket list show.”

A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. Playwright Tracy Letts uses these words to describe the “tragicomedy,” which won five Tony Awards and was the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Wooldridge saw the 2013 movie — starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Chris Cooper — many years ago and fell in love with it. He knew that he would love the opportunity to direct the play someday.

And now the time is here.

“August: Osage County” opens tonight and continues through June 18 at Basile Westfield Playhouse. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are still available.

While Wooldridge has never been involved with the show before, he was in the audience when Carmel Community Players put on the show during the 2014-15 season. That year, CCP earned 14 Encore Association awards for 22 nominations for “August: Osage County.”

There is one person in this Basile Westfield Playhouse production who was also in the CCP play. Jim LaMonte is playing his same role, Charlie Aiken, for which LaMonte earned Encore Association’s Best Minor Supporting Actor in a Drama.

Auditions went well. Wooldridge said “This show is an actors’ piece.” He had 43 people audition for 13 roles in the show. “I was able to put together a very strong cast, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience “August: Osage County.”

Besides a fabulous cast, Wooldridge said, “The set for this show is a beast. It is another character in the play.”

Ron Roessler is set designer. Wooldridge has worked with Roessler on many shows. “He is very talented, and I can’t wait to see what people think of what he created for this show,” Wooldridge said, without divulging any more.

Pam Jensen is doing props, and “she is fabulous, also,” he said. “An interesting thing about Pam is she has been nominated by the Encore Association three times and has never lost.” (Jensen won Best Props for a Play for “A Streetcar Named Desire” during CCP’s 2018-19 season; Best Set Decoration for a Comedy for “Arsenic and Old Lace” and Best Props for a Comedy for “Becky’s New Car,” both for Epilogue Theatre’s 2021-22 season.)

This is Wooldridge’s third show to direct for the 30-year-old Main Street Productions which presents shows at Basile Westfield Playhouse.

But it’s his first show to direct at the new playhouse in downtown Westfield. (He directed “Agnes of God” and “Noises Off” in the former venue, an old church-turned theater with no indoor toilets.)

“The biggest challenge for me was directing in this (new) venue,” he said. “I am used to directing in more intimate spaces, so there was definitely a learning curve for me.”

Wooldridge enjoys directing at Westfield. “I like Main Street because they are not afraid to tackle edgier theater pieces instead of the same old standards that you tend to see over and over again.

Wooldridge grew up in Danville and went to Danville High School, then attended Ball State University. The 54-year-old has a daytime job that he’s been doing for 30 years and does theater during the evening as his hobby, with his training all from experience.

Wooldridge comes to Basil Westfield Playhouse with lots of directing experience.

He said, “I actually directed my first show when I was still in high school, a production of ‘The Sound of Music.’ Now it is over 30 years later and over 70 shows that I have directed, and I am still going strong.”

MEET THE CAST

Beverly Weston, Rob Lawson; Violet Weston, Sally Carter; Barbara Fordham, Molly Bellner; Bill Fordham, Jeff Peabody; Jean Fordham, Megan Janning; Ivy Weston, Monya Wolf; Karen Weston, Caity Withers; Mattie Fay Aiken, Julie Dutcher; Charlie Aiken, Jim LaMonte; Little Charles Aiken, Jonathan Rogers;  Johnna Monevata, Bella King; Steve Heidebrecht, JB Scoble; Sheriff Deon Gilbeau, Mike Bauerle.

MEET THE CREW Producer, Ka’Lena Cuevas; director, Brent A. Wooldridge; stage manager, Susan Yeaw; stage assistant, Thia Calley; light designer, Eric Matters; light operator, Aaron Ploof; sound designer, Duane Mercier; sound operator, Jeff Coss; set designer, Ron Roessler; set construction, Ron Roessler and Robert Rave; set decoration, Ian Marshall-Fisher and Pam Jensen; costumes, Addie Taylor; Properties, Pam Jensen; dialect coach, Molly Bellner; fight choreography, Eric Bryant.

Want TO GO?

What: Main Street Productions presents “August: Osage County,” a tragicomedy by Tracy Letts, directed by Brent Wooldridge.

When: June 8-18, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays.

Where: Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., Westfield.

How much: $17 for adults, $15 students (with identification) and 62 and older, free to active military and veterans with identification.

Good to know: Play contains strong language and intense subject matter, including drug use, suicide, addiction, sexual references, and intergenerational trauma. Intended for mature audiences only, recommended ages of 18 and older.

Reservations required: Call 317-402-3341 or visit www.westfieldplayhouse.org/

-Betsy Reason writes about people, places and things in Hamilton County. Contact The Times Editor Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.