Lineup Announced For Foote Festival 3/14-5/1

Dallas-Fort Worth arts organizations and cultural instituutions participating in the metroplex-wide Foote Festival have announced festival selections and events. The Foote Festival, March 14 - May 1, 2011, will celebrate the life and work of the late, award winning, Texas playwright Horton Foote (March 14, 1916 - Marc 4, 2009).

"Horton Foote is widely considered to be one of the most influential American playwrights, and the most influential Texas playwright of the 20th century," says Kevin Moriarty, Artistic Director of Dallas Theater Center. "Arts institutions from across the metroplex have come together to create a coomprehensive look at Foote's body of work, which includes theate, film and television. Dallas-Fort Worth area theaters, libraries, museums and educational institutions have selected some of the most widely recognized and acclaimed plays and will create several exciting events to honor a truly legendary man."

Selections include COURTSHIP, THE YOUNG LADY OF PROPERTY, THE DANCER (Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts); THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (Contemporary Theatre Of Dallas); DIVIDING THE ESTATE (Dallas Theate Center); readings of A NIGHTINGALE, THE DANCERS and LAND OF THE ASTRONAUT (Flower Mound Performing Arts Theater); 3 FOOTE: AN EVENING OF THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS (Kitchen Dog Theater); THE OLD BEGINNING, JOHN TURNER DAVIS (Rotunda Theatre); TAVIS TAKING PICTURES (Stage West); THE ROADS TO HOME (Theatre Three); YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA (Uptown Players); THE TRAVELING LADY (WaterTower Theatre) and a staged reading of THE CARBET BAGGER'S CHILDREN (WingSpan Theatre Company and One Thirty Productions). Special events include a showing of a Horton Foote classic (Dallas Film Society); Arts & Letters live with Wilborn Hampton and Hallie Foote (Dallas Museum of Art); a special evening of Horton Foote programming (KERA's Art & Seek); the Life and Work of Horton Foote: An Exhibition (Southern Methodist University - DeGolyer Library).

"It would be impossible for a single institution to produce an event of this magnitude," says Moriarty. "But by bringing together Dallas and Fort Worth's leading theater companies and arts organizations in an unprecedented community-wide collaboration, we can celebrate his legacy and introduce audiences throughout the metroplex to his unique voice."

Foote, born in Wharton, Texas, was a prolific playwright whose plays, among the 60-plus he wrote,
included DIVIDING THE ESTATE, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL the three-part Orphans Home Cycle and the Pulitzer Prize-winning THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA. His work ha been nominated for numerous awards, including Emmy Awards, Tony Awards and Writers Guild of America Awards. Foote's Academy Award-winning screenplay adaptation of Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is perhaps his most well-known recognition.

Information about the Foote Festival including locations, dates and ticket information can be found at www.footefestival.com. Individual organizations will provide complete details regarding their selections on their respective websites.

For immediate inquirie please contact Kelsey Guy at kelsey.guy@dallastheatercenter.org or 214-252-3923.

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Theatre Department
COURTSHIP, THE YOUNG LADY OF PROPERTY, THE DANCERS

Proud to be part of this Metroplex wide tribute to award-winning Texas playwright Horton Foote, Booker T. has selected these three one-acts that exemplify his profound love and respect for his own past and the journey of self-discovery each of us must make out of adolescence and into the knowledge and understanding of our place in the world.

Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL
Our heavyhearted tribute to the recent passing of Texas author Horton Foote and entry into the Dallas - Fort Worth Foote Festival honoring the Oscar-winning screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. This is the tender and heartfelt story of an aging widow trapped in a three-room Houston apartment shared with her son and daughter-in-law and her journey to regain strength, peace of mind, and dignity in a Texas Gulf Coast town called Bountiful. Directed by René Moreno.

Dallas Film Society - DALLAS International Film Festival
Showing of Horton Foote classic
Possible Dates - April 3 or April 10

Dallas Museum of Art - Arts & Letters Live
Horton Foote: Memories, Readings & Recollections
The participants will share stories and engage in an informal conversation, interspersed with readings of letters and selected excerpts from Foote's work. Participants include Wilborn Hampton, Hallie Foote, Tess Harper and Kevin Moriarty. Wilborn Hampton is a theater critic for The New York Times and author of the definitive 2009 biography Horton Foote: America's Storyteller. Hallie Foote is a stage, film and television actress as well as the daughter of Lillian Vallish and Horton Foote. Father and daughter collaborated on a number of plays, including THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, for which she won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress, and DIVIDING THE ESTATE, for which she won the 2008 Richard Seff Award and was nominated for a 2009 Tony Award. Tess Harper is an award-winning film and television actress. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Horton Foote's 'Tender Mercies'. She also received an Oscar nomination for her role as cousin Chick in 'Crimes of the Heart'. Kevin Moriarty, Artistic Director of the Dallas Theater Center, will moderate the evening.