August: Osage County

ACT I

Scene i

A few weeks have passed since the prologue, and Beverly Weston has gone missing. Violet’s sister Mattie Fae and her husband Charlie, along with Violet’s daughter Ivy, have all come to the house. Violet enters and tells the group that the sheriff, who was a classmate of her daughter Barbara’s in high school, said that Bev’s pontoon boat at the lake is missing. “That’s bad news about the boat,” says Charlie when Violet leaves. Alone with her mother, Ivy tells Violet that she has called her two sisters, Barbara and Karen, and they’re on their way to the house. Violet begins to pick at Ivy for her appearance: “All women need makeup… The only woman who was pretty enough to go without makeup was Elizabeth Taylor and she wore a ton.” Barbara, Violet’s eldest, arrives with trepidation at the house with her husband, Bill, and their daughter, Jean. Despite their volatile relationship, Violet bursts into tears when she spots Barbara.

Scene ii

Violet is explaining the timeline