Horton Foote, The American Chekov

Many critics in the last several years have tagged the prolific playwright Horton Foote as the ‘American Chekov.’ Though influenced by the great Russian writer, it is clear that with Foote, whenever he puts pen to paper, it is with his own authentic voice. His first play Texas Town was produced off Broadway in l941; but with the emergence of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and William Inge, dramatists who all dominated Broadway during the post-war era and into the l950s, Foote began to write television drama to make a living and support his family. His biggest Broadway success during this period was A Trip to Bountiful starring Lillian Gish. This play has now been seen in revival on Broadway starring Cicely Tyson who won the 2013 Best Actress Tony Award for her performance. Only a few years prior to this production, the Signature Theater had presented Bountiful,’ starring Lois Smith, to great acclaim.

The current Foote play at The Signature is The Old Friends which unlike his other plays, usually set in the early decades of the 20^th century, takes place in the l960s. It has received rave reviews from all the leading theater critics including Ben Brantley of The New York Times. He was amazed by its melodramatic hysterical, farcical style which he points out differentiated it from most other low-key understated realistic works by this writer. Brantley tells us that these characters are just as scared, lonely, and thwarted as any others the playwright has created. Online critic David Sheward, a 25-year veteran managing editor of Backstage, compares this play and its staging to ‘faux Williams, Albee, and Inge;’ and I might add the name Strindberg to this list. Written in l965, it was never fully produced until now. However, there was a short-run exploratory staging with an audience in l982 at H. B. Playwrights Foundation directed by Herbert Berghof. Horton Foote’s long time association with his friends and creative mentors Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof at their HB Studios on Bank Street in the Village saw many such workshop productions of his plays like Tomorrow, Courtship, Nineteen Eighteen, Arrivals & Departures, Valentine’s Day, In a Coffin in Egypt, and Harrison, Texas. As recently as 2010, a play called The Chase was done in an HB workshop. Horton Foote himself spent a great deal of time in the Village and also invested in a restaurant called Tavern on Jane which is at 31 8^th Avenue on the corner of Jane Street. In the style of an Olde English pub-eatery, it is a popular Village spot for lunch, brunch or dinner and the place is owned and managed by the playwright’s charming son Horton Foote, Jr.

Hallie Foote, the playwright’s daughter, has appeared in leading roles in many of her father’s plays, notably in The Widow Clare opposite Mathew Broderick off Broadway at the Circle in the Square on Bleecker Street, and The Orphan’s Cycle, co-produced by the Signature Theater and Hartford Stage. Produced in 2009-10, this opus consisted of nine inter-connected plays that were performed on three different consecutive nights. For this, he took home many ‘Best Play’ awards including the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics. Awards and honor are no stranger to this great writer and they include among others the Pulitzer Prize for The Young Man from Atlanta which starred Shirley Knight and Rip Torn. He also received Academy Awards for his screen adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck, and for his original screenplay Tender Mercies starring Robert Duvall. A recent acclaimed Broadway run was Dividing the Estate which also featured in the cast his daughter, Hallie. Another gifted daughter, Daisy Foote, is following in her father’s footsteps – a coming of age playwright in her own right.

In 2006-2007, Horton Foote presided over the playwright-directors unit alongside Estelle Parsons at the Actors Studio for one season. As a member of this unit, I was inspired by his presence. Often Hallie was at his side and watching over the proceedings. For me, as a playwright, it was a real opportunity to learn from a great master. Gentle and shy, Horton Foote was also strong and always on target with his comments and critiques. Shortly after this time, Horton Foote died in Hartford, Connecticut just as Dividing the Estate was opening at Hartford Stage following its Broadway run.

I for one hope The Old Friends will find its way to Broadway where it can reach a larger audience. The ensemble acting in The Old Friends, directed by Michael Wilson, is the best to be seen anywhere. A buxom blonde Betty Buckley as Gertrude is a mad, alcoholic rich tyrannical matron and she is nothing short of superb as is the rest of the cast. The attractive redheaded Veanne Cox plays Julia as another over the top embittered, flirtatious manipulative, cunning, and outrageous woman married younger to an overweight wealthy Big Daddy type character played by Adam LeFevre. The cast is rounded out by Cotter Smith as Howard who fascinates and beguiles the rich ladies on hand with his charm. A young handsome stud named Tom, played by Sean Lyons is here to enact sexual games with the wealthy provocative dames. This does not include Hallie Foote playing the character Sybil who has come back to her home after several years in Venezuela only to discover that chaos is the order of the day. Her low key performance is as always top notch and she also gets to join in the frenzy with her own share of operatic outbursts and hysterics. Lois Smith is touching and brilliant as old lady Mamie Borden who must endure abuse and insults from her daughter Julia’s husband Albert. The Old Friends is set in the fictional town of Harrison, Texas like many of the other works by this playwright who grew up, lived, and was inspired by small town life.

The Old Friends by Horton Foote at the Pershing Square Signature Theater

480 West 42^nd Street, New York City

212 244-7529

http://www.signaturetheater.org .