The Orphans' Home Cycle
Encyclopedia
The Orphans' Home Cycle is a 3-play drama written by Horton Foote
. Each of the three plays in the trilogy comprises three one-act plays. They are The Story of a Childhood (Part 1), The Story of a Marriage (Part 2), and The Story of a Family (Part 3).
The plays focus on Horace Robedaux, whose character was inspired by Foote's father, from Texas, at the turn of the 20th Century to the beginning of the Depression. The plays follow Horace through three decades, as "seen through three generations of three families."
and the Signature Theatre Company
co-produced the cycle. Foote said "It's incredibly moving to see all of these plays from my years of writing come together into the theatrical cycle that I've always envisioned."
The cycle was produced at the Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut
, in September 2009 through October 2009. The cycle ran in repertory Off-Broadway
at the Signature Theatre Company from November 19, 2009 (Part 1), December 17, (Part 2), and January 26, (Part 3) through May 8, 2010. They (collectively) won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.
The director was Michael Wilson
, sets by Jeff Cowie and David M. Barber, and costumes by David C. Woolard. The cast included Bill Heck, Maggie Lacey, Annalee Jefferies, Hallie Foote
, Pamela Payton-Wright
, and Dylan Riley Snyder
.
Act 1: Roots in a Parched Ground 1902-1903; Act 2: Convicts 1904; Act 3 Lily Dale, 1911.
Part 2, The Story of a Marriage, 1912–1917
Act 1: The Widow Claire; Act 2: Courtship; Act 3: Valentine's Day
Part 3, The Story of a Family, 1918 to 1928
Act 1: 1918; Act 2: Cousins; Act 3: The Death of Papa.
in The New York Times
wrote of The Story of a Marriage that they "are both the starkest and most sentimental of this lovingly painted life-and-times portrait."
John Simon
called the cycle "absorbing and uplifting", and noted that it was "suffused with Foote’s almost uncanny humanity in portraying besetting hardships and hard-won victories, disheartening letdowns and dogged loyalties. Foote has a smiling empathy with all people."
Outer Critics Circle Award
New York Drama Critics' Circle
Horton Foote
Albert Horton Foote, Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television...
. Each of the three plays in the trilogy comprises three one-act plays. They are The Story of a Childhood (Part 1), The Story of a Marriage (Part 2), and The Story of a Family (Part 3).
The plays focus on Horace Robedaux, whose character was inspired by Foote's father, from Texas, at the turn of the 20th Century to the beginning of the Depression. The plays follow Horace through three decades, as "seen through three generations of three families."
Productions
Most of the individual plays had been produced previously, either on stage, in film, or for television. Hartford StageHartford Stage
Hartford Stage, located in Hartford, Connecticut, is one of the leading resident theatres in the United States, known internationally for entertaining and enlightening audiences with a wide range of the best of world drama, from classics to provocative new plays and musicals and neglected works...
and the Signature Theatre Company
Signature Theatre Company
Signature Theatre Company, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process...
co-produced the cycle. Foote said "It's incredibly moving to see all of these plays from my years of writing come together into the theatrical cycle that I've always envisioned."
The cycle was produced at the Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, in September 2009 through October 2009. The cycle ran in repertory Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
at the Signature Theatre Company from November 19, 2009 (Part 1), December 17, (Part 2), and January 26, (Part 3) through May 8, 2010. They (collectively) won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.
The director was Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson (director)
Michael Wilson , currently serving as artistic director at Hartford Stage, is an American stage director working extensively in regional theatre, Broadway, and Off-Broadway....
, sets by Jeff Cowie and David M. Barber, and costumes by David C. Woolard. The cast included Bill Heck, Maggie Lacey, Annalee Jefferies, Hallie Foote
Hallie Foote
Hallie Foote is an American actress.Born Barbarie Hallie Foote in New York City, the daughter of Lillian Vallish Foote and writer and director Horton Foote, she was raised in Nyack, New York and New Hampshire...
, Pamela Payton-Wright
Pamela Payton-Wright
-Biography:Payton-Wright was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Eleanor Ruth and Gordon Edgar Payton-Wright. She graduated from the Birmingham-Southern College in 1963. She began her television career in 1972 as Rhonda on Corky...
, and Dylan Riley Snyder
Dylan Riley Snyder
Dylan Riley Snyder is an American film, television and musical theatre performer. Beginning his acting career in community theatre at the age of five, Snyder is known for his acting, singing, and dancing abilities, starring as "Young Tarzan" in the 2006 Broadway musical, Tarzan, as "Timmy" in the...
.
The plays
Part 1, The Story of a ChildhoodAct 1: Roots in a Parched Ground 1902-1903; Act 2: Convicts 1904; Act 3 Lily Dale, 1911.
- Roots in a Parched Ground was first presented on the television show "DuPont Show of the MonthDuPont Show of the MonthDuPont Show of the Month, an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series, aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour anthology drama series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson .During the Golden Age of Television, DuPont...
", in 1962 under the title The Night of the Storm. The cast featured Julie HarrisJulie HarrisJulia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
as Julia, E. G. MarshallE. G. MarshallE. G. Marshall was an American actor, best known for his television roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s...
as Jim Howard, and Mildred DunnockMildred DunnockMildred Dunnock was an American theater, film and television actress.- Early life :Born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Western Senior High School, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties...
as Grandma Robedaux.
- Convicts was made into a film and released in 1991, with Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Soll Gautier and Lukas HaasLukas HaasLukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
as Horace Robedaux.
- Lily Dale ran off-Broadway at the Samuel Beckett Theatre from November 20, 1986 to February 15, 1987. The cast featured Molly RingwaldMolly RingwaldMolly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, singer and dancer. Having appeared in the John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles , The Breakfast Club , and Pretty in Pink , Ringwald has been frequently named the greatest teen star of all time...
as Lily, later replaced by Mary Stuart MastersonMary Stuart MastersonMary Stuart Masterson is an American film, stage and television actress and director.-Early life:Masterson was born in New York City to writer/director Peter Masterson and actress Carlin Glynn. She has two siblings: Peter Masterson Jr., and Alexandra Masterson, who are both involved in the...
. It was also televised in the "Hallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
" series in 1996, with Masterson as Lily.
Part 2, The Story of a Marriage, 1912–1917
Act 1: The Widow Claire; Act 2: Courtship; Act 3: Valentine's Day
- The Widow Claire was produced off-Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre from December 17, 1986 to April 26, 1987, with Matthew BroderickMatthew BroderickMatthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
as Horace Robedaux and Hallie Foote as Widow Claire.
- Courtship was filmed in 1987 with William Converse-Roberts as Horace Robedaux.
- Valentine's Day was filmed and released in 1986 with Matthew Broderick as Brother, William Converse-Roberts as Horace Robedaux, and Hallie Foote as Elizabeth Robedaux.
Part 3, The Story of a Family, 1918 to 1928
Act 1: 1918; Act 2: Cousins; Act 3: The Death of Papa.
- 1918 was produced in the 1990–91 season at the American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, California.
- Cousins was first produced in 1983 at the Loft Theatre, Los Angeles, California.
- Death of Papa premiered in 1997 at the Playmakers' Repertory Company, Chapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, with Matthew Broderick and Ellen BurstynEllen BurstynEllen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
. It was produced by the Hartford Stage in June 1999 with Frankie MunizFrankie MunizFrancisco "Frankie" Muniz IV is an American actor, musician, writer, producer, and racecar driver. He is known primarily as the star of the FOX television family sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. In 2003, he was considered "one of Hollywood's most bankable teens". In 2008, he put his acting career...
as Horace Robedaux Jr., Hallie Foote as Elizabeth Robedaux, and Dana IveyDana IveyDana Robins Ivey is an American character actress, who has performed on Broadway and other stage roles, in film and on television.-Early life and family:Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia...
as Mary Vaughn.
Critical response
Ben BrantleyBen Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote of The Story of a Marriage that they "are both the starkest and most sentimental of this lovingly painted life-and-times portrait."
John Simon
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...
called the cycle "absorbing and uplifting", and noted that it was "suffused with Foote’s almost uncanny humanity in portraying besetting hardships and hard-won victories, disheartening letdowns and dogged loyalties. Foote has a smiling empathy with all people."
Awards and nominations
Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
- Special Award, To the cast, creative team and producers of Horton Foote’s epic The Orphans' Home Cycle (winner)
- Outstanding Actor in a Play, Bill Heck (nominee)
Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
- Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play (winner)
- Outstanding Director of a Play, Michael Wilson (winner)
- Outstanding Actor in a Play, Bill Heck (nominee)
- Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, James DeMarse (nominee)
- Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Hallie FooteHallie FooteHallie Foote is an American actress.Born Barbarie Hallie Foote in New York City, the daughter of Lillian Vallish Foote and writer and director Horton Foote, she was raised in Nyack, New York and New Hampshire...
(nominee)
New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
- Best Play (winner)