HF: But in a weird way, out of all that chaos, Sybil emerges as this force. A lot of times there’s a woman in Horton’s plays that has a kind of strength and resilience. But she’s not sentimental – she does the right thing. Sybil reminds me of my mom. MW: And of Elizabeth Vaughn in The Orphans’
Horton Foote & Signature Theatre
Home Cycle. Women of intelligence, strength,
a sense of responsibility, and an ability to endure. Sybil is the protagonist in this play. When she abruptly loses her man, she faces the compromises she’s been making for so long. She’s remained true to her marriage, but now, she’s back home with the person she truly loves. HF: She’d made a decision to leave her husband, but then that’s taken from her. MW: Right. When confronted with a new set of circumstances, she changes her mind and stands by his side. What I think is going to be really exciting for audiences is that Hallie is returning to the kind of classic protagonist role she played in the early plays and films. And we’ll have Lois Smith taking on a very different character, a woman that has been perhaps not the best mother to her daughter, and Betty Buckley, who played opposite Robert Duvall in Tender
HORTON FOOTE’S RELATIONSHIP WITH SIGNATURE
began during the Inaugural Season in 1991 when he attended every play by his dear friend Romulus Linney, Signature’s Founding Playwright-in-Residence. Artistic Director James Houghton recalls his first meeting with Foote, when the seed for a season of Foote’s work was planted: “I remember sitting on the steps of the risers in the little Kampo Cultural Center and Horton was sitting in the aisle and we just had a wonderful conversation. He was compelled by the idea of a single-writer season and I remember very specifically saying, ‘Well you know, we should really think about doing a season together at some point,’ and he immediately said, ‘That would be wonderful, that would be terrific.’” Foote became Signature’s fourth Playwright-in-Residence during the 1994-95 Season, which saw the New York premieres of Talking Pictures and Night Seasons (which Foote directed) as well as the World Premieres of Laura Dennis and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man From Atlanta. Foote returned to Signature in 2000 for the world premiere of The Last of the Thorntons, and again in 2005 with The Trip to Bountiful. After Foote passed away in March 2009, the 2009-10 Season honored his body of work with the world premiere of The Orphans’ Home Cycle, Foote’s nine-play epic. Co-produced with Hartford Stage under the direction of Michael Wilson and performed in three parts over the course of the season, it garnered numerous awards including the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play and a special Drama Desk citation for “theatrical event of the season.” “In a way, once Horton arrived at Signature he never left,” reflects Houghton. “He attended every production and supported the theatre by being present at events, writing letters, and just getting out there and talking about how important it was to him and to the American theatre. I sure wish he was with us every day and at every performance but his presence and his guidance is definitely felt through the work itself.”
Mercies, returning to Horton’s work to play one
of his most outrageous characters – an alcoholswilling, swaggering, dripping-with-money woman who makes no bones about what she wants. In a way, Hallie’s character, Betty’s character, and Veanne Cox’s character are all circling this one man. That Betty and Lois and Hallie, who all worked directly with Horton, are coming together to do this play, is very special. Horton felt this was one of his great plays that never had a proper production. There was a workshop at HB Studios on Bank Street that ran for two weekends, but wasn’t a full production; he always wanted to take it to the next step. Signature: What kind of process did Horton go through with The Old Friends? MW: Well, it’s interesting; three of the characters that appear in this play are present in Horton’s first Broadway play, Only the Heart, which is set in 1944 – 20 years before the events of The Old
Friends, when Julia Borden is about to marry
Albert Price. It’s about their courtship, and how Mamie Borden controlled and manipulated the
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