Playwright Horton Foote To Be Featured In Two Upcoming Documentaries

Playwright Horton Foote will be featured in two upcoming documentaries, according to the Hartford Courant.

On September 6, CPTV will present their "Horton Foote: At Home in Hartford." The show centers on the writer's years in Connecticut and his affiliation with Michael Wilson and Hartford Stage. The special will air at 10:30pm on CPTV.

Foote died in March 4, 2009, just 10 days short of his 93rd birthday.

A feature-length film documentary is also in the works. The film, titled "Horton Foote: the Man from Wharton," is by Don Stokes and Anne Rapp. It will include footage from the Hartfiord Stage production of "The Orphans' Home Cycle," which plays Hartford Stage September 3 through October 16. The documentary is expected to finish filming in May, 2010. A release date has not yet been set.

Set in Foote's fictitious town of Harrison, Texas and based partly on the childhood of Foote's father and the courtship and marriage of his parents, The Orphans' Home Cycle is a wide-ranging, intricate work that spans the lives of three families over three decades. All actors in the production will be playing multiple roles and several will track their characters through time in the various plays which comprise the Cycle.

The Orphans' Home Cycle begins with a father's death in a small Texas town at the turn of the century, a loss that sends his son, Horace Robedaux, on an odyssey through the darkest corners of the heart as he learns to become a husband, father and patriarch. Bill Heck ("The Closer," "Medium," "Without a Trace," "CSI: New York") will play the central role of the adult Horace Robedaux, with Maggie Lacey (Dividing the Estate, Inherit the Wind, Our Town) as his wife, Elizabeth Vaughn Robedaux.

The playwright's daughter, Hallie Foote (2009 Tony Award nominee, Dividing the Estate), will play Elizabeth's mother, Mary Vaughn and James DeMarse (Dividing the Estate, The Trip to Bountiful) will play Henry Vaughn.

The ensemble also features Devon Abner, Pat Bowie, Leon Addison Brown, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Harrison, Henry Hodges, Georgi James, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Matt Mulhern, Gilbert Owuor, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snyder and Charles Turner.

The design team for The Orphans' Home Cycle includes Jeff Cowie and David Barber (Set Design), David Woolard (Costume Design), Rui Rita (Lighting Design), John Gromada (Original Music and Sound Design), Peter Pucci (Choreography), Ralph Zito (Voice/Dialect Coach) and Mark Olson (Fight Director).

Each part of the three part cycle will be staged individually as well as in repertory and one-day marathons. Audiences may choose to see the individual parts or the entire trilogy. Special lunch and dinner packages are available in conjunction with marathon performance days. Tickets are now on sale; details on the schedules available at hartfordstage.org.