"August" eyes London transfer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pulitzer prize-winning American play "August: Osage County" is expected to move to the London stage later this year, members of the production said on Sunday after it won the Tony Award for best play.

The sprawling drama about a dysfunctional family dominated by a bitter matriarch has been a Broadway hit this year after transferring from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The Tracy Letts play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year.

Deanna Dunegan, who won the Tony for best actress, told reporters she was taking a break from the role of the mother in New York after eight months.

Dunegan said her last performance was emotional "but I think we're going to London in November."

Anna Shapiro, who won the Tony for best director of a play, said she could not officially confirm a London opening but that rumors the original cast would return for a London run at the National Theatre were "good rumors."

Dunegan is one of five cast members who were leaving the cast on Sunday to take a break after an extended run.

"August: Osage County" won a total of five Tony Awards.

"I hope it has something to say about the state of our nation in the here and now," Letts told reporters backstage.

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons; Editing by Michelle Nichols and John O'Callaghan)