August: Osage County is closing out the Hilberry Theatre season with a bang. The production — which continues through May 10 — has received rave reviews from theatre critics. Described as “unforgettable” and “remarkable,” this Pulitzer Prize-winning play arrives fresh off the critically acclaimed film adaptation.

August: Osage County is set on the plains of modern-day, middle-class Oklahoma. Each member of the Weston family is intelligent and sensitive, with an uncanny ability of making the others absolutely miserable. When the patriarch of the household, Beverly, mysteriously vanishes, the Weston clan gathers to simultaneously support and attack one another. His body is found five days later in the lake; his death is deemed a suicide. Violet — the drug-addicted matriarch — and her three daughters and their families try, unsuccessfully, to work out their problems from the time they arrive, through Beverly’s funeral and on into the next day. 

Darkly comic and bitingly witty, August: Osage County explores painful issues all American families have to face — and then some.

Lavinia Hart, head of the MFA Acting Program at Wayne State University, plays the role of Violet. Hart was the artistic director of the Attic Theatre in Detroit for 19 years where she acted, directed and produced more than 100 professional productions. She is a winner of the Detroit Free Press’ Lee Hills Award and has been named Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News Magazine.

Director James R. Kuhl returns home to the Hilberry Theatre, where he earned his MFA in acting. Kuhl is the artistic director for the Tipping Point Theatre and has worked as an actor with the Purple Rose Theatre Company, Williamston Theatre, The Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Boarshead Theatre, Icarus Falling, Spotlight Theatre, Croswell Opera House, Magenta Giraffe and the Summer Studio Theatre in Illinois.

Tickets for August: Osage County range from $10 to $30 and are available at the Hilberry Theatre Box Office, 4743 Cass Ave., or online at www.wsushows.com.