The Orphans' Home Cycle announces new opening dates

Due to conflicts with the Broadway opening night schedule, Signature Theatre Company is announcing new opening night dates for Part 2 and Part 3 of Horton Foote's The Orphans' Home Cycle.

The Orphans' Home Cycle, Part 2: The Story of a Marriage will begin performances on 3 Dec 2009 as originally scheduled, but will now open on 17 Dec 2009. The production was previously scheduled to open on 13 Dec 2009, but that conflicts with the opening night for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music.

The Orphans' Home Cycle, Part 3: The Story of a Family will begin performances on 7 Jan 2010 as originally scheduled, but will now open on 26 Jan 2010. The production was previously scheduled to open on 24 Jan, but that conflicts with the opening night for the Broadway play A View from the Bridge.

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

The Orphans' Home Cycle plays through 28 Mar 2010 at Signature Theatre Company.

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 play multiple roles and several 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.

The Orphans' Home Cycle, Part 1: The Story of a Childhood , which opened on 19 Nov 2009, includes the plays 'Roots in a Parched Ground,' 'Convicts' and 'Lily Dale.'

The Orphans' Home Cycle, Part 1 opened to good reviews: The great adventure of this theater season (NY Times); An American masterwork (Back Stage); A remarkable journey (AP).

The ensemble of The Orphans' Home Cycle includes Devon Abner, Mike Boland, Pat Bowie, Leon Addison Brown, James DeMarse, Hallie Foote, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Amii Harrison, Bill Heck, Henry Hodges, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Maggie Lacey, Gilbert Owour, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Emily Robinson, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snyder and Charles Turner.

The design team for The Orphans' Home Cycle includes Jeff Cowie and David M. Barber (Set Design), David C. 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.

Foote completed work on The Orphans' Home Cycle prior to his death on 4 Mar 2009 at the age of 92. The cycle features nine plays that were originally written as full-length pieces. Hartford Stage commissioned Foote in 2007 to adapt the plays in this new three-part form.

Part 1: The Story of a Childhood begins at the turn of the 20th century and follows Horace Robedaux in his formative years. Part 1 begins with the plays 'Roots in a Parched Ground,' 'Convicts' and 'Lily Dale.'

Part 2: The Story of a Marriage focuses on the courtship years of Horace Robedaux and his search for a wife. Part 2 consists of the plays' The Widow Claire,' 'Courtship' and 'Valentine's Day.'

Part 3: The Story of a Family begins with the turmoil of World War I and ends with the characters looking to the future of their family and land. Part 3 is made up of the plays '1918,' 'Cousins' and 'The Death of Papa.' Four of the individual plays, 'Roots in a Parched Ground,' 'Convicts,' 'Cousins' and 'Valentine's Day,' are being staged for the first time as part of the cycle.

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.