Raven Theatre to Stage Chicago Premiere of Horton Foote's DIVIDING THE ESTATE in Jan. 2015

Raven Theatre, whose production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful just finished a successful run, will stage the Chicago premiere of Foote's Dividing the Estate next season. The announcement was made today by Michael Menendian and JoAnn Montemurro, co-Artistic Directors of the company.

Foote's last new play produced on Broadway, Dividing the Estate received its world premiere at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey in 1989. It was presented off-Broadway in 2007 by the Lincoln Center Theatre Company and Primary Stages Theater and was honored with the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play as well as the Obie Award for Playwriting. That production, directed by Michael Wilson and starring Elizabeth Ashley, Gerald McRaney, Penny Fuller and the playwright's daughter HAllie Foote, transferred to Broadway's Booth Theatre for a limited engagement from October 2008 through January 2009. The Broadway production was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Original Play and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (HAllie Foote).

The comedy-drama focuses on the members of a wealthy Texas family whose fortunes have declined and who are debating whether or not to divide the remainder of the family's estate while their octogenarian matriarch Stella is still alive. In reviewing the off-Broadway production, The New York Tines' Ben Brantley called the play "deeply funny" and said "Mr. Foote's authorial gaze is focused with satiric sharpness while retaining its elegiac sense of life's transience." David Rooney of Variety said "The Chekhovian intrusion of past upon present, the melancholy acknowledgement of a world in decline, the gentle but tart humor, the clear-eyed compassion tinged with despair - these qualities remind us why the 91-year-old playwright remains such a distinctively expressive voice in contemporary American drama."

"We're delighted to have the opportunity to present this bittersweet comedy," Menendian says, additionally noting "audiences are always entertained by seeing the wealthy fall. It's a subject that's worked at least since Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, and the topic still resonates today. The recession of the mid-1980's, when this play is set, has parallels to our current economic challenges.

Dividing the Estate will be one of four shows in Raven Theatre's yet-to-be announced 2014-15 season. It will be directed by Raven ensemble member Cody Estle and will open in January 2015. Casting for Dividing the Estate and the remaining titles in the 2014-15 season will be announced at a later date.

Raven Theatre is dedicated to performing arts that illuminate the American experience and work that provides reflection on our identity in a global context. Through its ensemble produced plays, collaborations with outside artists and organizations and its educational programming, Raven is committed to serving our community's needs through the arts.

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