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The Trip to Bountiful Extends Run to March 11 Closing

By: Jan. 25, 2006
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Signature Theatre Company's critically-acclaimed production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful will extend for a second and final time. Due to popular demand, the show will now play its final performance at the Peter Norton Space (555 W. 42nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues) on March 11th.

Despite the raves, however, artistic director James Houghton has stated that there is a little possibility of a commercial transfer due to the status of all of Broadway's houses. "They're booked. And it's so frustrating because I think what we've got is a major crowning achievement in Lois Smith's performance," he told The New York Times. He also said that an off-Broadway transfer is unlikely as well; it would yield too little profit.

The show was previously extended through February 29th.
The Trip to Bountiful which kicked off Signature's 15th Anniversary Signature Series season, opened on December 4th, 2005, and was originally announced to close on January 8th.

The show features Smith (a Tony-nominee for Buried Child and The Grapes of Wrath) as Carrie Watts and Hallie Foote (The Last of the Thorntons) as Jessie Mae Watts. The play is directed by Harris Yulin.

"Carrie Watts longs to return to her childhood home of Bountiful, Texas, where she hasn't been in thirty years. Despite her failing health, she grows more determined to escape from the tiny Houston apartment she shares with her soft-spoken son and watchful daughter-in-law. Finally she gets her chance to head homeward, and it is the journey of a lifetime."

In addition to Smith and Foote, the cast for The Trip to Bountiful also includes Devon Abner (The Young Man from Atlanta/Signature), Meghan Andrews (The Grapes of Wrath/Broadway), Gene Jones (Big River/Broadway), Sam Kitchin (Frozen/Broadway), Frank Girardeau (Night Seasons/Signature). The designers are E. David Cosier (sets); Martin Pakledinaz (costumes); John McKernon (lights); and Fitz Patton (sound)
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Signature Theatre Company's next production will be John Guare's The Landscape of the Body. Starring Sherie Rene Scott and Lili Taylor, and directed by Michael Greif, it will run from March 28th through May 21st, 2006.   Three plays from August Wilson's ten-play cycle--Seven Guitars, Two Trains Running and King Hedley II--will be presented, beginning in Fall 2006.  Signature will also present a free staged reading of Adrienne Kennedy's adaptation of Madame Bovary as part of its 15th Anniversary expanded programming.

The Trip to Bountiful's performance schedule is Tuesdays-Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 3 PM and 8 PM; and Sundays at 3 PM. For subscription and ticket information, please call (212) 244-PLAY (7529). For more information, visit www.signaturetheatre.org.





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