The Broadway transplant of Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County” triggered talk of a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awards. Off Broadway’s 59th Street Theatre put the spotlight on three Chicago-bred shows (Writers’ Theatre’s “Crime and Punishment,” Sean Graney’s “The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide” and Laura Eason’s “When the Messenger is Hot”). And the gonzo 500 Clown troupe played the fringey P.S. 121.