Natchez Little Theatre is proud to present, as a part of the Natchez Fall Pilgrimage and the Natchez Tricentennial, Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.”  The show was first produced by The Theatre Guild on Nov. 3, 1953, at Henry Miller’s Theatre in New York City.  The original production starred Lillian Gish as Carrie Watts, with Jo Van Fleet as Jessie Mae Watts and Eva Marie Saint as Thelma. Van Fleet won the Tony for her role and Saint won the Outer Critic and Theatre World Awards for her performance.

Broadway revived the production in 2013, with a star-studded cast including Cicely Tyson, Vanessa Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Vanessa Williams. The production was nominated for Best Revival at the Tony’s and Tyson won Best Actress.  This production inspired NLT to cast the show with two alternating casts, one with the principals being African American and the other Caucasian as in the original Lillian Gish production.

Horton Foote’s moving play tells the story of Carrie Watts, an elderly woman, played by Sara Davis and Judy Wiggins, who longs to escape the cramped Houston apartment where she lives with her protective son, Ludie, played by NLT Award-winning actors Terrence Robinson and Bo Allen, and her authoritarian daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae, played by Courtney Fleming and Morgan Mizell. Carrie wants to return to her beloved hometown of Bountiful, Texas, one final time before she dies. While Ludie is at work and Jessie Mae is at the drugstore, Carrie escapes to the bus station and befriends a young woman named Thelma, played by Katie Borum and Camille Taylor. The new friends travel toward Bountiful together, but when Carrie arrives in nearby Harrison, Texas, she begins to learn that her beloved town isn’t the same as she remembered it.

Rounding out NLT’s talented cast are Dr. Ben Burke as the Harrison Sheriff; Wade Heatherly, Tyler Brown, Ty Hite and Josh McGehee as Houston Ticket Men; Tim Leak as the Harrison Ticket Man; Jonathan Rosso, Janet McNeely and Evan Sanders as Travelers at the Houston Bus Terminal.  Mary Jane Richardson joins the cast near the conclusion singing “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” and it will move even the most stoic audience member.  The sets were designed by Layne Taylor and constructed by Lynn Mann and Tyler Brown.  Lynn Mann and Jennifer Rosso decorated the set and the production is directed by Layne Taylor.

First presented on television and then produced on Broadway “The Trip to Bountiful” is about the myth of an idea called home. “Mr. Foote creates characters, nearly all of whom come from the same stretch of provincial Texas, who long to believe in the reality of real estate, that a house is a fortress and an anchor in a world of threatening flux. But this bleakly sentimental playwright is as merciless as he is compassionate. Home is only an illusion for his people, and everyone is ultimately an orphan, even when surrounded by family,”  wrote  the New York Times.

“The Trip to Bountiful” runs throughout the Natchez Fall Pilgrimage, Sept. 23 to Oct. 8, 2016.  Performances are at 7:30 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday with a final Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. on Oct. 9.  Tickets are $15 for non-members of Natchez Little Theatre, which is located at 319 Linton Avenue at Maple Street in historic Natchez. Reservations are highly recommended due to advance ticket sales.  Call NLT at 601-442-2233 or toll free at 877-440-2233 or guarantee your reservations by purchasing them securely on-line at natcheztheatre.org.

Hope to see you this Fall Pilgrimage at NLT’s “The Trip to Bountiful.”
Layne Taylor is the director of “The Trip to Bountiful” and Natchez Little Theatre’s artistic and executive director.