Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Presents THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, Beginning 3/9

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will continue its Marx Theatre season with Horton Foote's THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL. An African-American cast offers a subtle new perspective on the universal themes of this life-affirming play, which begins previews March 9 and continues through April 7.

Trapped in a cramped Houston apartment with her son and his self-indulgent wife, Carrie Watts fantasizes about realizing her greatest ambition: returning to the Gulf Coast town of Bountiful and seeing her beloved childhood home one last time. Armed with her latest pension check, a wily stubbornness and limitless determination, Carrie embarks on the inspirational journey of a lifetime.

Foote, who died in 2009 at the age of 92, was described as "a writer's writer" in his
New York Times obituary. Texas-born, he always retained his identity as a chronicler of small-town values. Foote's career, which spanned more than 60 plays and films, began with acting and quickly gravitated to writing. THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL was originally produced in 1953 as a NBC-TV teleplay starring Lillian Gish as Carrie Watts. It has since appeared on Broadway, in London and in an off-Broadway revival, as well as the 1985 film version which brought Foote an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay and Geraldine Page an Oscar as Best Actress. Foote's film career brought him two Academy Awards, for the screenplay adaptation of
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and his original screenplay for Tender Mercies.