The challenge of taking on an award-winning play
Bimsara Premaratne and her cast are ready to stage August Osage County by Tracy Letts
As February heads towards an end, the theatre scene is gathering momentum. August Osage County, the award-winning play by Tracy Letts, directed and produced by award-winning actress, Bimsara Premaratna will hit the Lionel Wendt Theatre on February 24, 25 and 26.
Exploring themes of addiction, suicide, and generational trauma, Letts’ play described as a tragi-comedy was first staged in Chicago in June 2007, followed by a Broadway debut in December. In the play Beverly, the patriarch of the family disappears and the drama unfolds when family members return home to be with his wife Violet. August Osage County won the Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Broadway Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was made into an awardwinning film as well.
Well known as an actor, Bimsara is also a voice artist, theatre coach, and presenter and is now enjoying the challenge of directing.
Her first major stage role was with the Silent Hands production Move Over Mrs. Markham in 2009, and she went onto take up challenging roles“Blanche” in Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams) by the Workshop Players, “Tupolski” in Pillowman (Martin McDonagh) by Stage Light & Magic, “Wathsala” in Nethuwa Bari Minihek (Rajitha Dissanayake) by Freedom Theatre Group where she was awarded Best Supporting Actress at the State Drama Festival 2017. She won Best Upcoming Actress for her role of Meghana in Appachchi by Ananda Abeynayake and an Acting Merit Award for Sherine in Baddey Kulawamiya by Ananda Abeynayake both under the SIGNIS Awards, Outstanding Achievement State Television Awards. In film, she has played Eunice Peiris in ‘According to Mathew’ by Chandran Rutnam, ‘Kanthi’ in Sumathy Sivamohan’s Puththu Saha Piyawaru (Sons and Fathers) and ‘Mother’ in Two Months by Nilmini Perera (awarded Outstanding Performance at the Women’s International Film Festival).
This is her first time directing an adult cast. “When I discovered the play, I wanted to act in it rather than direct or produce,” says Bimsara. “I was looking for someone to take up the production and when it didn’t seem to happen, I figured the only way to get it done was if I directed it myself.”
The play deals with issues of race, addiction, abuse, and relationships, etc, in a manner that is very human. “The play will be relatable to audiences around the world as they will see themselves and their families reflected on stage,” says Bimsara. It is a stark reflection of the realities of families healing from generational trauma and carries the message that if such trauma isn’t addressed at personal, family, or societal level, it will keep returning in cycles, and be passed generationally until the cycle gets broken.
Although rehearsals for the play have been quite intense, the cast members have had heaps of fun bonding with one another and gaining new experiences. “Rehearsals have been great because I get to see friends and I’ve gotten to know talented, supportive, interesting people who I’m learning from,” says Thanuja Jayawardene who plays the character of Barbara Fordham. “The play is such a fantastic piece of work; it is a privilege to be a part of it.”
Shiyan Jayaweera, playing Charlie Aiken adds, “Dealing with such heavy subject matter in this script, as a cast we have had to rely on each other to help build the narrative. Can’t wait for theatre audiences to see it and hope they enjoy the show!”
The challenges in putting together such a production were many, managing schedules of a relatively large cast and having an expansively costly production budget list. “There was no one formula or strategy to deal with it all. We did our creative best to manage them all to the best of our abilities and find ways through,” Bimsara says.