One of my chief excuses for trekking out west to San Diego was the opportunity to see a friend of mine onstage in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer-winning drama August: Osage County at The Old Globe – one of the California’s premier regional theaters. As expected it was a spirited and superlative production of an epic play about the secrets and lies infesting an American family on the Great Plains. It was also a not-so-subtle reminder that great theater exists (and inspires) all across America – not just on Broadway or in New York.