Critic Frank Rizzo Asks 'Were Actors of ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE Snubbed by Lortel Awards?'

Frank Rizzo, theatre critic for Courant.com, recently discussed whether or not the production of THE ORPHANS' HOME CYCLE was snubbed by the Lucille Lortel Awards.

Rizzo says, "While it was a fine and well-deserved honor that Horton Foote's epic "The Orphans' Home Cycle" was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award as outstanding play, I was more than a little surprised that the nine-play, nine-hour production -- which had its premiere last fall at Hartford Stage -- received not one acting nomination. "

He continues, "Obviously, it would have been a huge snub not the nominate the Cycle this year for outstanding new play (four plays in the nine-play Cycle are world premieres) but I can't help but wonder if Foote's earlier actions caused the Lortel nomination folks to be a little pissy."

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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, is being co-produced by Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) and Hartford Stage (Michael Wilson, Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Managing Director). Wilson directs a 22-member company in the historic, sweeping work.

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 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 Owuor, 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), Jan Hartley (Projection Design), Mark Adam Rampmeyer (Wig and Hair Design). Peter Pucci (Choreography), Ralph Zito (Voice/Dialect Coach) and Mark Olsen (Fight Director).

Each part of the three-part cycle is 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 March 4, 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.