Horton Foote: The 'American Chekhov'
Mention Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Edward Albee, and the average person responds with a knowing smile. Mention Horton Foote and that smile likely turns to a puzzled stare.
Mention Foote's Academy Award-winning 1962 film adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "The Trip to Bountiful" from 1985, whose Oscar-nominated screenplay he adapted from his 1953 play, and confusion turns to recognition.
"You have to remind people who he is," says Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman Theatre, where a three-month salute to Foote begins Saturday. "The others have been Broadway stalwarts. Most of (Foote's) work has taken place off-Broadway and in regional theaters."
Foote, dubbed the "American Chekhov," has written more than 60 plays, most of them set in Harrison, Texas, his fictionalized hometown of Wharton. He counts a Pulitzer Prize, two Oscars and an Emmy among his honors. But unlike the aforementioned writers, he has never become a household name.
"To some extent, Horton has been a bit neglected in his own time," Falls says. "But 50 or 100 years from now, people will look back on his plays as major works of a major American artist.
"He has an extraordinary body of work, especially in film and television, going back 50 or 60 years. For a long time he was thought of as a regional writer, but he is a distinctive American author who has been honing his craft and writing in his vein of gold for a long time. And he is an absolute master playwright."
In some circles, "regionalist" amounts to a patronizing pat on the head, but Foote doesn't object to the label.
"I don't think about it too much," he says. "You have to be careful not to be called 'quaint.' 'The Trip to Bountiful' is over 50 years old, and it's sturdy in the sense that people identify with it. Since I set out for myself the task of being a chronicler of this section of the country, I wanted to avoid any sense of quaintness."
Some have called him sentimental, but Falls says his plays can be tough, unforgiving and extremely harsh.
"They don't always make people feel good about themselves," Falls says.
He writes specifically about small-town folks in southeast Texas. But the loneliness, the search for meaning and the need for a place to call home that infuse his work resonate universally.
Lois Smith received an Obie Award for her performance as Carrie Watts (the role for which Geraldine Page won an Oscar) in Signature Theatre's 2006 revival of "The Trip to Bountiful" says the depth and authenticity of Foote's plays touch audiences.
"Horton has created a world, an extremely artful and well-crafted world," says Smith, who stars in a remount of the Signature production in March at Goodman. "One thing about doing the show in New York City was how many people, when they spoke about it, spoke about how important it was to them. It's a treat to have that kind of affect on people."
Foote's daughter, actress Hallie Foote, who plays Jessie Mae in Signature's production, says audience members frequently said the characters remind them of an aunt, mother, etc.
"That's when you can tell it's hit a nerve," she says. And not just with audiences.
"I've always found his writing to be so accessible," says Hallie Foote, who the New York Times called the premier interpreter of her father's work. "He writes wonderful parts for actors. He gives you these characters who are rich and interesting and you go on a journey with them.
"It's a journey he's taking as well," she says.
And he has no intention of stopping anytime soon. His play "Dividing the Estate" is scheduled to open on Broadway in the fall, and he's currently working on a new project, which superstition prevents him from discussing.
"When I find something that warms my heart, so to speak, I just go right on. But there are always moments when you think the well has gone dry," says the 91-year-old, who speaks with the genteel lilt of a Southern gentleman. "You have to be patient. I sometimes waited for 10 years. Sometimes you get to a certain point and it won't go any farther. Then you wake up one day and say, 'I know now.' "
Besides "Bountiful," Goodman will produce the one-acts "Blind Date" and "The Actor," which Falls calls marvelous examples of Foote's comic sense, along with the full-length play "Talking Pictures."
"I really love 'Talking Pictures,' " Falls says. "On first look, it seems like a small play about people living in a boarding house during the Depression. Scratch the surface, and it's an enormous play about lives crumbing, society changing, and people dealing with those changes."
Like his plays, the playwright is more than he appears.
"On the surface, he is an extraordinary gentleman," says Falls of Foote's Old World gentility and soft-spoken demeanor. "But you'd be mistaking Horton if you thought he was simply a throwback to a time. Underneath the civility and manners there's a guy who's tough, a survivor who has a backbone of iron and a tremendous moral center."
Horton Foote Festival
Where:
Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago
Plays:
• "Talking Pictures," about the impact the "talkies" have on the residents of a small Texas town. Saturday to March 2. $10-$38
• An evening of one-acts: "Blind Date," about a well-meaning aunt attempting to set up her niece, and "The Actor," about a young man determined to achieve success on the stage. Feb. 21 to March 2. $10-$38
• "The Trip to Bountiful," about an elderly woman visiting her childhood home for the last time. March 1 to April 6. $23-$75
Other:
Special events, discussions, etc. on select Mondays (information not available at press time)
Family-friendly discussion and workshop related to "The Trip to Bountiful" at 9 a.m. March 15
Phone: (312) 443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org
A partial list of Horton Foote's more than 60 plays and screenplay adaptations and numerous awards:
Born in Wharton, Texas 1916
Moved to New York City 1936
Co-founded American Actors Theatre 1938
"Wharton Dance" 1940
"Texas Town" 1942
"Only the Heart" 1942
"Celebration" 1948
"The Chase" 1952
"The Trip to Bountiful" 1953
"The Traveling Lady" 1954
"The Dancers" 1954
"Storm Fear" 1955
"A Young Lady of Property" 1956
"Flight" 1957
"The Old Man" (adaptation of William Faulkner) 1958
"To Kill a Mockingbird" (adaptation of Harper Lee) 1962
Academy Award for adapted screenplay ("Mockingbird") 1963
"Baby, the Rain Must Fall" 1964
"Tomorrow" (adaptation of William Faulkner) 1972
"The Roads to Home" 1982
"Tender Mercies" 1983
Academy Award for original screenplay ("Tender Mercies") 1984
"The Trip to Bountiful" (adaptation) 1985
"1918" 1987
"Lily Dale" 1988
"The Widow Claire" 1988
"Dividing the Estate" 1989
"Of Mice and Men" (adaptation of John Stein beck) 1992
Writers Guild of America Laurel Award 1993
"The Young Man From Atlanta" 1995
Pulitzer Prize, "The Young Man From Atlanta" 1995
"Alone" 1997
"Old Man" 1997
"Lily Dale" 1997
Emmy Award outstanding writing for a miniseries or special ("Old Man") 1997
Writers Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award 1999
National Medal of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama 2000
"The Last of the Thorntons" 2001
"The Carpetbagger's Children" 2002
"Getting Frankie Married … and Afterward" 2002