Letts’ bittersweet Pulitzer

News came down from on high today that Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, currently on Broadway, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

The Chicago playwright and actor is the author of Man from Nebraska (a Pulitzer contender) Bug (also a movie starring Ashley Judd) and Killer Joe, a hit for Marin Theatre Company that transferred to the Magic in San Francisco.

The award is somewhat bittersweet becuse Letts’ father, the actor Dennis Letts, who played the role of the troubled father in August: Osage Country, died in February after a fight with lung cancer.

August: Osage County, which originated at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre (where Letts is an artistic associate) ends its run at the Imperial Theatre on April 20 and resumes production at the Music Box Theatre April 29.

Check out Chris Jones’ Chicago Tribune coverage (includes video of the Pulitzer celebration and scenes from the play) here.

Also nominated this year as finalists in the drama category were: Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang, and Dying City by Christopher Shinn.