RIALTO CHATTER: ORPHANS' to Find Home on Bway Spring '11?

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, Horton Foote's THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE had been aiming for a Fall 2010 Broadway opening after electing not to move into the Neil Simon Theatre this spring following its acclaimed Signature Theatre run. The Hartford Courant is now reporting that Foote's play is no longer being considered for a Fall 2010 opening.  Instead: "all the talk is about the spring."

In January, ORPHANS' director Michael Wilson said in the Times: "We had a majority of the money in place, enough to move it this spring [of 2010], but the bottom line was making sure there was enough time to properly market the production."

The world premiere production of THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE, a three part theatrical event by the Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning playwright Horton Foote, was co-produced by Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) and Hartford Stage (Michael Wilson, Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Managing Director). Wilson directed a 22-member company in the historic, sweeping work.

THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE played through March 28, 2010 at Signature Theatre Company. 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 play multiple roles and several 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.

The ensemble of THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE included Devon Abner, Mike Boland, Pat Bowie, Leon Addison Brown, James Demarse, Hallie Foote, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Amii Harrison, Bill Heck, Henry Hodges, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Maggie Lacey, Gilbert Owour, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Emily Robinson, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snyder and Charles Turner.

The design team for THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE included Jeff Cowie and David M. Barber (Set Design), David C. Woolard (Costume Design), Rui Rita (Lighting Design), John Gromada (Original Music and Sound Design), Peter Pucci (Choreography), Ralph Zito (Voice/Dialect Coach), Mark Olsen (Fight Director), Jan Hartley (Projection Design) and Mark Adam Rampmeyer (Wig and Hair Design).

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.

Foote completed work on THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE prior to his death on March 4, 2009 at the age of 92. The cycle features nine plays that were originally written as full-length pieces. Hartford Stage commissioned Foote in 2007 to adapt the plays in this new three-part form.

PART 1: THE STORY OF A CHILDHOOD begins at the turn of the 20th century and follows Horace Robedaux in his formative years. Part 1 begins with the plays Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts and Lily Dale.

PART 2: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE focuses on the courtship years of Horace Robedaux and his search for a wife. Part 2 consists of the plays The Widow Claire, Courtship and Valentine's Day.

PART 3: THE STORY OF A FAMILY begins with the turmoil of World War I and ends with the characters looking to the future of their family and land. Part 3 is made up of the plays 1918, Cousins and The Death of Papa.

Four of the individual plays, Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Cousins and Valentine's Day, are being staged for the first time as part of the cycle.

Signature Theatre Company devoted its 1994-1995 season to Horton Foote, including the world premieres of The Young Man from Atlanta (for which Foote won the Pulitzer Prize) and Laura Dennis and the New York premieres of Night Seasons and Talking Pictures. Signature also produced the world premiere of his The Last of the Thorntons in its 2000-2001 Season, as well as the award-winning production of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 during the company's 15th anniversary season.

Signature Theatre Company, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright's body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process. Signature is the first theatre company to devote an entire season to the work of a single playwright, including re-examinations of past writings as well as New York and world premieres. By championing in-depth explorations of a living playwright's body of work, the Company delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright's singular vision. Please visit www.signaturetheatre.org for more information.