Tracy Letts is a renowned, award-winning actor. While famed for his acting skills, Letts is just as successful as a playwright. In fact, his career in writing for the theater is nearly as long as his presence in the acting scene.
This article will review a selection of Letts’ best plays.
A biography of Tracy Letts
Letts was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a family of professors with artistic tendencies. His mother and father taught journalism and English, respectively. The father was an aspiring community theater actor, while the mother, Billie Letts, was an award-winning author.
His parents inspired Tracy Letts to pursue an acting career while developing an interest in writing. After high school, he went to Dallas, where he began acting while supporting himself with various day jobs. While Letts did get some roles there, he decided to move on, looking for better opportunities.
Arriving in Chicago, Letts joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, which truly launched his acting career. He became a regular in the company’s plays and stayed with Steppenwolf for over two decades, acting in distinguished productions like The Glass Menagerie.
Letts wrote his first play in 1993 and has been active as a playwright since. He has won numerous awards for his acting roles and plays. Letts received a Tony Award as an actor for the role of George in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He became the laureate of the same prize as a playwright for August: Osage County. This play would bring Letts the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well. Letts would later be the finalist for the award two more times.
His career led him all the way to New York, where he participated in the Off-Broadway and Broadway scene. By that time, Letts also became an established movie and TV show actor.
Letts’ notable roles include those in five movies with Oscar for Best Picture nominations: Lady Bird, Little Women, The Big Short, The Post (opposite Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep), and Ford v Ferrari (as Henry Ford II). He also acted in hit titles like:
- Seinfeld
- Showtime’s Homeland
- Elvis & Nixon
- The Lovers
- Christine
- HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
- Deep Water, a directorial comeback for Adrian Lyne
- Indignation, the film adaptation of the Phillip Roth novel
Letts has also written movie screenplays based on three of his plays and for the Netflix picture The Woman in the Window, which stars Amy Adams.
A review of the best plays by Letts
Killer Joe
Killer Joe is Letts’ first play. This pulp fiction story follows Chris Smith, a small-time drug dealer who’s indebted to dangerous people. Not knowing how to get out of that situation and save his life, Smith comes up with a diabolical plan: to collect his mother’s life insurance after killing her.
The dealer manages to get his father on his side, and the two hire the play’s titular character, Joe Cooper, for the job.
This play is shocking for the portrayal of characters who are beyond the point of redemption. Yet, the play doesn’t take itself too seriously, rather presenting its subject with plenty of dark humor.
Bug
Equal parts surrealist and cautionary, Bug places two unrelated characters in a messy hotel room in Oklahoma. There’s Peter Evans, the central character of the play, and Agnes White, who’s trying to escape from domestic abuse.
As the pair become closer and discover each other’s secrets, a romance develops, and Evans and White end up in bed. However, during the night, Evans becomes upset. He starts to see tiny bugs everywhere, including under his skin. Soon enough, White begins to see the bugs, too, and the situation devolves into paranoia.
The characters start questioning whether the bugs are actually there, as well as who placed them in the hotel room.
August: Osage County
August: Osage County is a semi-autobiographical drama with elements of dark comedy. It details events and characters in a dysfunctional family after the disappearance of the disillusioned patriarch, Beverly Weston.
As the atmosphere in the family home worsens, Beverly’s wife Violet becomes psychologically violent towards her three daughters. At the same time, she is overly protective toward a live-in girl named Cheyenne.
The housekeeper is the most balanced character in the house, observing the situation in silence and, eventually, becoming the most helpful member.
The Minutes
In Letts’ signature style, The Minutes is confined to a very limited space. The play takes place during a city council meeting which occasionally gets interrupted by sudden and mysterious lights-offs. The blackouts are followed by thunder from outside, and both seem to happen at pivotal moments.
The situation gradually turns into a mystery, with the involved characters revealing that they might not be who they say they are.
Honorable mentions
Tracy Letts has written several other successful plays, including:
- Mary Page Marlowe
- Man from Nebraska
- Superior Donuts
- Linda Vista
Find great plays in audiobook format with Speechify
If you’re interested in the work of Tracy Letts, theater plays are likely your passion. In that case, you’ll be delighted to learn that experiencing great plays doesn’t require going to the theater. You can enjoy some of the most exciting titles in audiobook form, wherever you are.
The best way to get your hands on quality audiobooks is through Speechify. This growing service has thousands of titles across all genres, including plays like Shakespeare’s King Lear and many others. Signing up for Speechify Audiobooks is straightforward – you can create an account in minutes, grab the free app, and start listening.
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FAQ
How old is the actor Tracy Letts?
Tracy Letts was born in July 1965, making him 57 at the time of this article.
What is the name of Tracy Letts’s first Broadway play?
Letts had his Broadway debut with the play August: Osage County.
Who is Tracy Letts married to?
Tracy Letts is married to Carrie Coon, an actress possibly best known for her role in the movie Fargo.