FOOTE NOTES at Open Fist Theatre Extends Again thru Feb 23

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced that its smash-hit, critically-acclaimed production of FOOTE NOTES, written by Horton Foote and directed by Scott Paulin is extending again through Saturday, February 23 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

Horton Foote, one of America's greatest storytellers, died in the spring of 2009 at the age of 92. In a career that spanned nearly seventy years he was awarded two Academy Awards for Screenwriting, an Emmy and the Pulitzer Prize among scores of other accolades. Much of his early work was in the form of One Act plays, many of them performed on live television in the early 1950s. A Young Lady of Property first appeared on the Philco Television Playhouse in 1953. The story of Wilma and Arabella, two teenage girls planning to flee their small rural town for the bright lights of Hollywood, is as poignant and provocative today as it was more than half a century ago. In The Land of the Astronauts, set in 1983, local dreamer Phil has vanished, gone off,he says,to become an astronaut leaving his baffled wife and daughter behind. The play tells the story of her sometimes harrowing, sometimes madcap search for her lost love. Both plays take place in Horton's hometown, callEd Harrison in his plays, and both are richly drawn portraits of humans struggling bravely to hold onto their dreams in the face of withering opposition. Another collection of Foote One-Acts, Harrison, TX, just closed a sold out run Off-Broadway in NY under the direction of Pam McKinnon.

Horton Foote (Playwright) has had plays produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway, as well as at many regional theatres. Horton's plays include The Day Emily Married, The Carpetbagger's Children, The Last of the Thorntons, The Young Man From Atlanta, The Chase, The Traveling Lady, The Trip to Bountiful, Night Seasons, Texas Town, Tomorrow, The Habitation of Dragons, The Orphans' Home Cycle, Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Lily Dale, The Widow Claire, Courtship, On Valentine's Day, 1918, Talking Pictures, Laura Dennis, Vernon Early and HARRISON, TEXAS.

In the fall of 2007 the New York premiere of Mr. Foote's play "Dividing the Estate" received universal critical accolades and a sold-out run at Primary Stages. Terry Teachout reviewing the play for The Wall Street Journal states: "Horton Foote, as it happens, is 91 years old...This wonderful play reminds me of something that the great and long-lived Japanese painter Hokusai once said: 'At 90, I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at 100, I shall certainly have reached a marvelous stage; and when I am 110, everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive.' I'd say Mr. Foote is a couple of decades ahead of schedule."

He received Academy Awards for his screenplay adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and his original screenplay Tender Mercies. In 1995, he received the Pulitzer Prize for The Young Man from Atlanta, as well as the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway and the Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award for the Signature Series of his plays. He was elected to the Theater Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1998, Horton was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and at the same time received from the Academy the Gold Medal of Drama for his entire body of work. He received the National Medal of Arts Award from President Clinton in 2000. Other awards include the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, The New York State Governor's Arts Award and the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award for The Carpetbagger's Children, presented by the American Theatre Critics Association. His memoirs, Farewell and Beginnings, are published by Scribners.

SCOTT PAULIN (Director/Carl) began his career as a stage actor in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s appearing at The Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Magic Theater, The Berkeley Stage, and the Eureka Theater where his performance as Pavlo in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel received the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance. Since coming to Los Angeles in 1980 he has worked as an actor and director in film, television and theater. He has directed more than thirty hours of dramatic television and guest starred in more than a hundred episodes of television.

His feature film credits include Cat People, Soldiers Story, Turner and Hooch, Pump Up the Volume, and The Right Stuff. He recently directed Nicholas Kazan's new play, Mademoiselle God at The Ensemble Studio Theater, Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class and Horton Foote's Getting Frankie Married and Afterwards here at The Open Fist where he is a proud member. The webseries he recently directed, The Mop and Lucky Files is currently garnering awards at festivals nation wide. He plays Jim Beckett on the hit ABC nighttime drama Castle. He is a longtime friend of the Foote family.

The cast of FOOTE NOTES includes Bryan Bertone, John Bozeman, Caitlin Renee Campbell, Jacque Lynn Colton, Martha Demson, Bruce Dickinson, Kiley Eberhardt, William Jackson, Juliette Goglia, Nicola Hersh, Monica Lawson, John LeMay, Laetitia Leon, Matt Little, Kevin McCorkle, Aaron McPherson, T. Lynn Mikeska, Scott Paulin, Mary Linda Phillips, Wendy Phillips, Laura Richardson, Hilary Schwartz, Ina Shumaker, Rod Sweitzer, Talyan Wright and AlgeRita Wynn.

FOOTE NOTES features an award-winning design team. The Production Design is by Richard Hoover. Currently, Richard Hoover is designing sets for Aaron Sorkin's new HBO series "The Newsroom. " Recent theatre works include Caroline or Change, Guthrie Theatre; Aftermath, New York Theatre Workshop; Fifth of July, Signature Theatre, The Tempest for Emily Mann at the McCarter; Speaking in Tongues for Mark Clements at The Roundabout; Skreamers, The Ave T, Copenhagen, Mephisto and The Seagull for Tim Robbins, the Actors' Gang; Bat Boy, dir. Scott Schwartz; House Arrest, Jo Bonney, at the Public; Twelfth Night for Joe Dowling at The Guthrie; and on Broadway; Not About Nightingales, for which Richard received the 1999 Tony Award. Film selections: Blind Horizon; Live from Baghdad; Mothman Prophesies, Girl, Interrupted; The Cradle Will Rock; Dead Man Walking, and Bob Roberts; Ed Wood; Payback. Richard also designed sets for the TV series Twin Peaks.

The Lighting Design is by Dan Reed. The Sound Design is by Peter Carlstedt. The Costume Design is by Kellsy MacKilligan. Original Music is by John Bobek. The Prop Design by Bruce Dickinson, Ina Shumaker and Judith Scarpone. The Stage Manager is Flor San Roman.

FOOTE NOTES has extended again through Saturday February 23 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. Performances are Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm (with two added Friday evening performances on February 15 & 22 at 8pm). ALSO NOTE THAT THE SATURDAY PERFORMANCES ON FEBRUARY 2 & FEBRUARY 9 will be at 2pm (not 8pm as previously announced.)

Ticket prices are $25. Students and Seniors- $20. Special group rates available for parties of 10 or more. For information, or to purchase tickets, visit the website for details at www.openfist.org.

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