THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL Remembers Playwright Horton Foote's Birthday Today

Heralded playwright Horton Foote, born March 14, 1916 would be 97 years old today. His play The Trip to Bountiful starts previews on Broadway March 30, 2013 and official opens April 23, 2013 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 W 43rd St) starring Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding, Jr, Vanessa Williams, Condola Rashad and Tom Wopat. Foote passed away on March 4, 2009.

"I believe very deeply in the human spirit, and I have a sense of awe about it. I look around and ask, What makes the difference? What is it? I've known people the world has thrown everything at-to discourage them, to kill them, to break their spirit. And yet something about them retains a dignity. They face life and they don't ask questions." - Horton Foote

Awarded the National Medal of Arts Award from President Clinton in 2000, Horton Foote's prolific writing career began with his first play, Texas Town, produced Off-Broadway in 1941. Since then his plays have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off Off-Broadway, and at many theaters around the country. His plays include Dividing the Estate, Young Man From Atlanta (Pulitzer Prize), The Trip to Bountiful, The Carpetbagger's Children, The Day Emily Married, The Last of the Thorntons, The Chase, The Traveling Lady, Night Seasons, Tomorrow, The Habitation of Dragons, Laura Dennis, Vernon Early, The Roads to Home and the nine-play The Orphans' Home Cycle - Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Lily Dale, The Widow Claire, Courtship, Valentine's Day, 1918, Cousins and The Death of Papa (New York Drama Critics Circle Award).

He received Academy Awards for his screenplay adaption of To Kill a Mockingbird and his original screenplay, Tender Mercies. Awards include Obie and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Dividing the Estate, Lortel Award for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway and the Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award for the Signature Theatre series of his plays, Drama Desk Lifetime Achievement Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal of Drama for his body of work, PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, and New York State Governor's Award. Honors: Theatre Hall of Fame (1996), elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1998). His memoirs, Farewell and Beginnings, are published by Scribners.

Directed by Michael Wilson, the inspiring American classic, The Trip to Bountiful, tells the story of Carrie Watts (Cicely Tyson), who is trapped in a cramped Houston apartment with her soft-spoken son (Cuba Gooding Jr) and out-spoken daughter-in-law (Vanessa Williams), dreaming of a return to her home in the small Gulf Coast town of Bountiful, where she grew up and raised her family. Fearing that she's an imposition and chafing under her daughter-in-law's watchful eye, she steals away with her latest pension check and heads home in the journey of a lifetime. The result is an unforgettable play about the idea of home and its power to sustain us.

Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful premiered as a teleplay on NBC in 1953, starring Lillian Gish as Carrie Watts. The play had its Broadway premiere later that year with the same cast, which also included Eva Marie Saint. The play was adapted by Mr. Foote into an acclaimed 1985 film starring Geraldine Page, for which she won the Academy Award. In 2005, Signature Theatre produced the play Off-Broadway starring Lois Smith, for which she won Lortel, Obie, Outer Critics and Drama Desk Awards.

THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL's award winning creative team has interpreted a number of plays and films by Horton Foote: Jeff Cowie (scenery), Van Broughton Ramsey (costumes), Rui Rita (lighting), and John Gromada (original music and sound design).

Tickets for The Trip to Bountiful are available at the box office, www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

For more information, visit www.TheTripToBountifulBroadway.com.