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Tracy Letts (born July 4, 1965 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American playwright and actor. He has been an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 2002.
Life and work
He is the son of the earlier college professor and now actor Dennis Letts and best selling author Billie Letts. His brother Shawn is a jazz musician and composer. Tracy grew up in Durant, Oklahoma and he graduated from Durant High School. After graduating in the early 80s he moved to Dallas. He stayed there for two years, while he waited tables and worked in telemarketing, and he also got the part in a one-man play, Jerry Flemmons' O Dammit!, which was part of a New Playwrights Series sponsored by the Southern Methodist University. Letts moved to Chicago at the age of 20, and worked for the next 11 years at 29th Street Repertory Theater, the Steppenwolf and Famous Door. In 1991, a time when he had an alcohol problem, he wrote the play Killer Joe. (He would later join Alcoholics Anonymous, and has today been sober for over 13 years.) Two years later, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Chicago. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in at least 15 countries in 12 languages.
His mother Billie Letts has said about his writing, "I try to be upbeat and funny. Everybody in Tracy's stories gets naked or dead." Every one of the three plays he's written, are about people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he has drawn inspiration from the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. Letts considers sound to be a very strong story telling tool for theater.
Plays
Writer
Actor
- 2007 Betrayal
- 2006 The Pillowman
- 2006 The Well-Appointed Room
- 2005 Last of the Boys
- 2005 The Pain and the Itch
- 2004 The Dresser
- 2003 Man From Nebraska
- 2003 Homebody/Kabul
- 2003 Don Delillo
- 2002 The Dazzle
- 2001 Glengarry Glen Ross
- 1999 Three Days Of Rain
- 1994 Picasso At The Lapin Agile
- 1988 The Glass Menagerie
Filmography
Writer
- 2007 Bug (play) (screenplay)
Actor
Film
- 1999 Guinevere - Zack
- 1998 Chicago Cab - Sports fan
- 1998 U.S. Marshals - Sheriff Poe
- 1992 Straight Talk - Sean
- 1988 Paramedics - Van owner
Television
- 2001 The District - Brad Gilroy (TV) (1 episode)
- 2001 Strong Medicine - Ken (TV) (1 episode)
- 2000 Profiler - Mr. Adams (TV) (1 episode)
- 1999 Judging Amy - Mr. Kleinman (TV) (1 episode)
- 1998 The Drew Carey Show - Lomax (TV) (1 episode)
- 1997 Seinfeld - Counterguy (TV) (1 episode)
- 1996-1997 Early Edition - Jonathan / Marksman (TV) (2 episodes)
- 1995 Home Improvement - Henry (TV) (1 episode)
Awards
- 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nomination - Man from Nebraska
External link
- Tracy Letts at IMDb