On April 28, Montana Actors’ Theatre (MAT) will be opening August: Osage County with presenting sponsor Tilleman Motor Company. Two Chinook residents, Anjanett Hawk and Chad Zuelke will play roles in the production, which begins at 7:00 p.m. this Friday. Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best New Play, August: Osage County provides a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at both its finest and its absolute worst.

Written by Tracy Letts and directed by Grant Olson, the play’s story centers around the Weston family, who all come home after their patriarch, world-class poet and alcoholic Beverly Weston, disappears. The family matriarch, Violet is left reeling after the disappearance of her husband. Played by Hawk, Violet is depressed and addicted to pill popping and to “truth-telling.” Her three daughters, Barbara (Tylyn Turner), Ivy (Samantha Pollington), and Karen (Mindy Smith-Langel), are each harboring their own shady secrets.

Adding to the family dynamic, Violet’s sister Mattie Fae (Darcy Zook) is well-trained in the Weston family art of cruelty, as are her husband (Mike Zook) and son (Chad Zuelke). Tensions heat up and boil over in the ruthless August heat as this maladjusted family finds themselves holed up in their large family home on the desolate plains of Osage County, Oklahoma. Here, a storm of repressed truths and unsettling secrets explode. Mix in Violet, the scathingly acidic matriarch, and the audience is set to experience a plot that unflinchingly exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

According to MAT’s Executive Director, Jay Pyette: August: Osage County will feature “a stellar and extremely talented cast! This play is simply one of the best written shows out there and has received all sorts of awards! We are confident we will do it justice in our staging.”

The following actors and actresses comprise the cast of this production:

•Beverly Weston - Michael Stevenson

•Violet Weston - Anjanett Hawk

•Barbra Fordham - Tylyn Turner

•Bill Fordham - Charles Finn

•Jean Fordham - Racheal Van Blaricom

•Ivy Weston - Samantha Pollington

•Karen Weston - Mindy Smith-Langel

•Mattie Fay Aiken - Darcy Zook

•Charlie Aiken - Mike Zook

•Little Charles Aiken - Chad Zuelke

•Johnna Monevata - Morgaine Evans-Lomayesva

•Steve Heidebrecht- Trevor Mork

•Sheriff Deon Gilbeau - Brian Jenkins

The production, which opens this Friday, will also have showings May 4-6 and again May 11-13. Tickets are available locally at Havre Chamber of Commerce, The Computer Center, & Company Apparel, and Bear Paw Meats. They can also be obtained online at mtactors.com.