The Orphans� Home Cycle: extends its run by three weeks

The Orphans� Home Cycle, the world premiere of a three part theatrical event by the late Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Horton Foote, has been extended by popular demand for an additional three weeks through to 28 Mar 2010. It was originally scheduled to close on 6 Mar 2010.

The world premiere production of The Orphans� Home Cycle is being co produced by Signature Theatre Company and Hartford Stage. Michael Wilson directs a 22-member company in the historic, sweeping work.

The Orphans� Home Cycle will play from 5 Nov 2009 through to 28 Mar 2010 at Signature Theatre Company. The production is currently playing through to 24 Oct 2009 at Hartford Stage.

Set in Foote�s fictitious town of Harrison, Texas and based partly on the childhood of Foote's father and the courtship and marriage of his parents, The Orphans� Home Cycle is a wide-ranging, intricate work that spans the lives of three families over three decades. All actors in the production will be playing multiple roles and several will track their characters through time in the various plays which comprise the Cycle.

The Orphans� Home Cycle begins with a father's death in a small Texas town at the turn of the century, a loss that sends his son, 'Horace Robedaux,' on an odyssey through the darkest corners of the heart as he learns to become a husband, father and patriarch. Bill Heck (TV work: 'The Closer,' 'Medium,' 'Without a Trace,' 'CSI: New York') will play the central role of the adult Horace Robedaux, with Maggie Lacey ('Dividing the Estate,' 'Inherit the Wind,' 'Our Town') as his wife, 'Elizabeth Vaughn Robedaux.'

The playwright�s daughter, Hallie Foote (2009 Tony Award nominee, 'Dividing the Estate'), will play Elizabeth�s mother, Mary Vaughn and James DeMarse ('Dividing the Estate,' 'The Trip to Bountiful') will play 'Henry Vaughn.'

The ensemble is rounded out by Devon Abner, Pat Bowie, Leon Addison Brown, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Harrison, Henry Hodges, Georgi James, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Matt Mulhern, Gilbert Owour, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snider and Charles Turner.

The design team for The Orphans� Home Cycle includes Jeff Cowie and David Barber (Set Design), David Woolard (Costume Design), Rui Rita (Lighting Design), John Gromada (Original Music and Sound Design) and Peter Pucci (Choreography).

Each part of the three part cycle will be staged individually as well as in repertory and one-day marathons. Audiences may choose to see the individual parts or the entire trilogy.

The Orphans� Home Cycle encompasses nine plays by Horton Foote, together for the first time and newly adapted by Foote prior to his death on 4 Mar 2009 at the age of 92. Foote adapted each of the full-length plays, some previously produced and others never before seen, into one epic cycle.

Part 1: The Story of a Childhood begins at the turn of the 20th century with the plays 'Roots in a Parched Ground,' 'Convicts' and 'Lily Dale' and follows Horace Robedaux in his formative years. It will open at the Signature Theatre Company's Peter Norton Space on 19 Nov 2009, following previews from 5 Nov and will through to 27 Mar 2010.

Part II: The Story of a Marriage focuses on the married life of Horace Robedaux and his new wife and is made up of the plays 'The Widow Claire,' 'Courtship' and 'Valentine�s Day. It will open at the Signature Theatre Company's Peter Norton Space on 13 Dec 2009, following previews from 3 Dec and will through to 27 Mar 2010.

Part III: The Story of a Family consists of the plays '1918,' 'Cousins' and 'The Death of Papa' and begins with the turmoil of World War I and ends with the characters looking to the future of their family and land. It will open at the Signature Theatre Company's Peter Norton Space on 24 Jan 2010, following previews from 7 Jan and will through to 28 Mar 2010

Four of the individual plays, 'Roots in a Parched Ground,' 'Convicts,' 'Cousins' and 'Valentine�s Day,' will be staged for the first time as part of the cycle. In addition to the world premiere of Part III: The Story of a Family, Foote is the subject of a biography, 'Horton Foote: America�s Storyteller' by Wilborn Hampton, to be released on 8 Sep 2009 by Simon and Schuster and his final screenplay, 'Main Street,' starring Orlando Bloom, Colin Firth, Amber Tamblyn and Ellen Burstyn, is also scheduled for release this year.

Signature Theatre Company devoted its 1994-1995 season to Horton Foote, including the world premieres of The Young Man from Atlanta (for which Foote won the Pulitzer Prize) and Laura Dennis and the New York premieres of Night Seasons and Talking Pictures. Signature also produced the world premiere of his The Last of the Thorntons in its 2000-2001 Season, as well as the award-winning production of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 during the company�s 15th anniversary season.