TERI LAZZARA AS BARBARA One of those plays where characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue.
  • Truman Buffett Photography
  • TERI LAZZARA AS BARBARA One of those plays where characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue.

OK, guys. Real talk. Truth time. I love theater when it's good, but I'm also easily bored. And theater can be… you know, boring. As hell. And long. It can be so long. Someone says "three-and-a-half-hour play" and my interest in seeing that play starts to power down. Someone says "two intermissions" and my panic trigger triggers. For these reasons, I'd never gotten around to seeing August: Osage County, even though it won the Pulitzer Prize and it's been produced in Seattle before and everyone always says it's great. In my defense, everyone is often wrong about things. Balagan Theatre's right at the end of their run of of August: Osage County, a production Goldy has raved about already, a production we told you on cover of The Stranger to go see, and last night I took our own advice and went and saw it. And holy moly with a Stoli, it's amazeballs.

If that's three and a half hours, it's a magic trick—it FLIES by. If you don't know anything about the show, keep it that way. If you want a hint, it's one of those plays where vicious characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue. In other words, the best kind of play—in the grand tradition of eating-each-other-alive plays like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Doubt. There are like 20 actors in this thing, but the ones who deserve singling out for extra amazeballsness are John Q. Smith as Charlie Aiken, Teri Lazzara as Barbara Fordham (losing her shit in that photo above), and Shellie Shulkin as Violet (below, left, pointing at Lazzara while reaming her out).

SHELLIE SHUKLIN AS VIOLET WESTON Shes the pill-popping pointer on the left.
  • Truman Buffett Photography
  • SHELLIE SHUKLIN AS VIOLET WESTON She's the pill-popping pointer on the left.

Word's gotten around: Balagan's production has sold out all of its online tickets for its last two shows, tonight and tomorrow night at 8 pm. HOWEVER! A source tells me there are still tickets available at the door. Here's how to get to the theater. Do it.