Steppenwolf taking play to Broadway

In the end, it really wasn't a question of if, but of when Steppenwolf Theatre's "August: Osage County" would transfer to Broadway.

The answer: Oct. 30, when previews begin for the NYC debut of Pulitzer Prize finalist and Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts' sprawling, enthralling, fiercely comic play about a modern, dysfunctional American family in all its ragged glory. Comparing it to classics by O'Neill, Miller and Albee, critics have hailed the play as the next great American drama.

Steppenwolf artistic director Martha Lavey and executive director David Hawkanson announced the transfer late Tuesday in a prepared statement. A love letter to the women of Steppenwolf thanks to Letts' writing and Anna D. Shapiro's sterling direction, the production featuring Deanna Dunagan and Steppenwolf's Amy Morton, Jeff Perry, Mariann Mayberry, Sally Murphy, Rondi Reed, Francis Guinan and Ian Barford among others, will transfer virtually intact to New York City's Imperial Theatre where it opens Nov. 30.