Considered the preeminent interpreters of Foote’s plays, Michael Wilson and Hallie Foote (Horton’s daughter and the executor of his estate) were last at Signature in 2009-10, when Michael directed and Hallie starred in Foote’s epic The Orphans’ Home Cycle. While preparing to go into rehearsal, the two close collaborators spent some time with Literary Director Christie Evangelisto exploring the world of The Old Friends – an explosive, tragic, and little-known chapter in Foote’s rich history as a playwright.
Signature: What have you been up to since The Orphans’ Home Cycle? MW: Orphans’ was a pinnacle moment for Hallie and me, artistically and personally. We lost Horton during the process of creating that epic. The mind reels when one thinks back to Orphans’ and that wonderful 22-person company. I think it helped with our current work on The Trip to Bountiful – having experience with Orphans’ launches you into Horton’s world. It’s been an amazing three years. I left Hartford Stage as Artistic Director and moved back to New York with my partner, Jeff Cowie. I’ve been fortunate to do plays by Tennessee Williams and Lanford Wilson, and also have been working on Broadway with Gore Vidal’s The Best Man and with Hallie on The Trip to Bountiful. HF: We’ve also been traveling around doing Dividing the Estate. I worked with Pam MacKinnon on Harrison, TX at Primary Stages, and I did a play of my sister (Daisy)’s called Him, also at Primary Stages. Oh, and I did Paranormal Activity 3. Signature: What have you learned from working on so many of Horton’s plays? What draws you to them? HF: I love the humanity of his plays. I love the parts that he writes for women. He writes these very complicated, rich vehicles for women – old, young, it doesn’t matter. He just loved women, and I think his parts reflect that. MW: The humanity certainly draws me to Horton’s plays, as well as his strong, rich, deep stories. Horton is one of our great storytellers. He weaves these amazing, rich narratives that cast a spell on us and take us to another time and place. Maybe it’s a small town in Texas at the turn of the century – in the case of The Old Friends it’s something more modern and contemporary. Whatever the time or place, it’s a world that’s unique and whole and unto itself, with an honesty and a clarity that we recognize.
above left: A young Horton Foote (right) and family. above right: Director Michael Wilson during a rehearsal for The Orphans’ Home Cycle, 2009.
Signature: What is your history with The Old Friends? MW: For the last decade or so of Horton’s life, this was one of the plays that he and I most wanted to do. We had a number of different theatres, both regionally and in New York, interested in doing it, but it’s not easy to cast. It’s also a play of a certain size, and has three different locations. I’m really happy we’ve ended up here at Signature because of the long history that Jim (Houghton) has in supporting and producing Horton’s work. The Old Friends is one of Horton’s more outrageous plays. If you think of Dividing the Estate as a play that has these explosions of anger, frustration, and shock
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