THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL to Host Talkback with Dan Rather Tomorrow

The critically acclaimed revival of Horton Foote's American masterpiece, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, will host a special free talkback following the performance on Tuesday, September 17 with acclaimed news anchor Dan Rather. New York Times reporter Wilborn Hampton will interview Mr. Rather about his friendship with playwright Horton Foote and their shared hometown of Wharton, TX the real life Bountiful. All ticket holders for the evening performance on September 17th are invited to stay for the talkback.

Celebrated news reporter Dan Rather was the anchor of CBS Evening News, for over 24 years covering such major events as the Kennedy Assassination, the space race, political conventions, wars in Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and 9/11. He now is the managing editor and anchor for Dan Rather Reports on AXS TV. His latest autobiography Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News is available through Grand Central Publishing.

Author of the 2011 biography, Horton Foote: America's Storyteller, Wilborn Hampton is a theater critic for The New York Times. Throughout a journalistic career that began in Dallas as a cub reporter covering the assassination of President Kennedy, and later carried him to London, Rome, and the Middle East as a foreign correspondent, his abiding passion for the theater remained constant. After joining The New York Times as an editor, that lifelong love led him into a position as a theater critic and feature writer, reviewing plays and conducting interviews on a freelance basis for the paper. Over the course of the past 20 years, he has reviewed more than 500 stage productions for The Times, and although he left his editorial position on the paper in 2006, he continues to review plays and write articles on the theater on a regular basis. Hampton has published several Young Adult nonfiction books: Kennedy Assassinated: The World Mourns, Meltdown: A Race Against Nuclear Disaster at Three Mile Island and September 11, 2001: Attack on New York City, War in the Middle East: A Reporter's Story (those 4 were published by Candlewick Press), and a biography of Elvis Presley published by Viking Childrens Books as part of their "Close Up" series.

Directed by Michael Wilson, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL is currently playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 W 43rd Street) through October 9, 2013. The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are available at the box office, www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

Returning to Broadway for the first time in over 30 years in this production of THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, the legendary Cicely Tyson has won every major theatre award of the season - the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award. THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL also stars Emmy Award nominee and recording star Vanessa Williams, Tony Award Nominee Tom Wopat, rising star Adepero Oduye, and Leon Addison Brown.

The inspiring American classic, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, tells the story of Carrie Watts, an elderly woman forced to live with her overprotective son and domineering daughter-in-law, who dreams of returning to her small hometown of Bountiful, TX one last time. Her journey becomes a heartbreaking but ultimately life-affirming and inspiring tale that examines the fragility of memory and celebrates the enduring power of hope and faith.

THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL also features Devon Abner, Curtis Billings, Pat Bowie, Arthur French, Susan Heyward, Billy EuGene Jones, Bill Kux, Linda Powell, and Charles Turner.

Photo by RD/Leon/Retna Digital