Important Dates

Apr. 25: Fig Preview Night
Apr. 26: Opening Night
Apr. 28: Pay-What-You-Want Matinee
May 3: Thirsty for History Night
May 4: Wine Tasting Night
May 5: ASL/Open Caption/Audio Description matinee
May 8: Open Caption/Audio Description
May 9: Asides Pre-Show Presentation (evening only)
May 12: Spanish Interpretation (matinee only)
May 13: Final Performance

A Message from the Fulton Leadership

Dear Friends,

It is a true honor to have the opportunity to present what many of us here on staff-and certainly the national theatre community at large-feel is the best written play of the last twenty years.

When the esteemed Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago premiered the play in the summer of 2007 it instantly became a hit with their audiences, as many of their productions do. This is perhaps in no small part due to the fact that Steppenwolf company member Tracy Letts wrote the play specifically for his favorite actors, including his own father, who played the role of patriarch role of Beverly Weston until the week before he died.

Something truly magical happened in that original production. That playwright, with those actors along with their director, created some of the most realistic, complex, lovable and loathsome characters to have inhabited the stage in years. And audiences reacted in unusually strong, emotional ways, even by Chicago standards. Then Steppenwolf bravely-perhaps foolishly-transferred the entire production to Broadway, even though doing so interfered with the casting of the remainder of their subscription season. And in so doing, they generously shared with the Broadway theatre going community one of the finest pieces of theatrical art in American history.

The play has now become a very important part of the theatrical repertoire for those theatres that are brave enough to produce it. The play requires the finest actors, who are willing to emotionally exhaust themselves night after night. The play requires a level of ensemble that actors rarely have the opportunity to explore. And perhaps most important, the play requires audiences that are brave enough to explore over three hours of tragedy, comedy, strong language and some of the darkest aspects of the human condition.

When you listen to Tracy Letts' deceptively poetic dialogue we hope that you will take this journey with us. We have faith in the talent of this extraordinary cast. We believe there are infinitely powerful truths to be learned from this play. And we are deeply humbled to share this theatrical journey with you, our dear audience.

Finally, thank you, Tracy Letts and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. We hope we do you proud.

Marc Robin, Artistic Director
Aaron A. Young, Managing Director