Sierra Stages and Miners Foundry to Present THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL Next Week

On Wednesday, April 29, Miners Foundry Cultural Center and Sierra Stages present, "The Trip to Bountiful", the next installment of Theater By The Book, a series of informal play readings for the community.

"The Trip to Bountiful" is about the journey of a lifetime taken by a woman who sets out to escape the big city and her overprotective family, fueled by the dream of returning to her small hometown of Bountiful, Texas, one last time. It is 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" was written by Horton Foote, and is directed by Leslie Ann Rivers, and features critically acclaimed actress and Berkeley Rep founding member, Karen Lewis, along with local talents Jeffrey Mason, Kenneth Miele, Kelly Taylor, Wendy Willoughby, and T.E. Wolfe.

"I've had a fondness for Horton Foote's work since first seeing his screen adaptation of "To Kill A Mockingbird", and later, his moving screenplay, "Tender Mercies", says Rivers. "He can write for any dramatic medium: film, television and the stage. His work and the actors who perform it have garnered Oscars, Tonys, and Emmys."

Foote's scripts, often set in the rural Texas landscape of his youth, are specific to that world, yet universally human. He writes of home, and of the longing we all have to return there, be it a physical or an emotional place. Often home is where we have spent our childhoods, surrounded by family that loved and protected us. Foote suggests that these loving memories remain alive and deep in our hearts, and when we reach down for them, we remind ourselves of who we truly are, and find the strength to carry on.

The play premiered on NBC-TV in 1953, before being produced on the Broadway stage later that year. Its first Broadway production earned Jo Van Fleet a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. The play was later made into a movie for which Geraldine Page won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2005, the Signature Theatre Company revived the play Off-Broadway starring Lois Smith. Most recently, Cicely Tyson received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 2013 Broadway production.

The Theater By The Book series has proven to be a wonderful opportunity for both theater buffs looking to get an extra theater fix and new audiences interested in learning more about theater. The readings are done with minimal staging, sets and costumes. As a result, the audience can focus on the language of the plays presented.

"Directing a play can be like hosting a fabulous dinner party. If you offer the right fare -- the words of the play -- and bring together the right guests -- the actors -- you can create a feast," explains Rivers. "Bountiful offers us a delicious script -- compassionate, moving, humorous and bittersweet, a joy to work with. It's also an actors' piece, a chance to gather a mix of veteran local actors and actors with credits from other cities, too, to create a wonderful cast, and to bring Bountiful's characters to life."

Following "The Trip To Bountiful", the Theater by the Book season continues on Wednesday, June 3 with "Fortune" by Deborah Zoe Laufer, directed by Robert Thomas, and featuring Monica McKey and Stephen Wellman. It is a contemporary, poignant love story beautifully disguised as a hilarious comedy. Two people - one, a cynical psychic whose powers are unfortunately real, and a lovelorn bachelor whose desire for romance is both unstoppable and apparently doomed - look for love in an often confusing world, where identities shift and communication can be hazardous to your mental health.

For more information about "The Trip to Bountiful" and Theater by the Book, visit www.minersfoundry.org or www.SierraStages.org, or call (530) 265-5040 or (530) 346-3210.

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