Horton Foote: Four New Plays - Softcover

Horton Foote, Pulitzer prize-winner playwright, (The Young Man From Atlanta) has had plays produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway and many regional theatres. Including: The Habitation of Dragons, and Night Season. Some of his films include To Kill A Mockingbird (Academy Award Winner) and Of Mice and Men.

Over the last 30 years, Foote has made a seamless transition from live television to film and theater, winning Oscars for screenplay adaptations ( To Kill a Mockingbird ; Tender Mercies ) and kudos for his plays. His theater writing is virtually all set in a small area of Texas oil-and-cotton country, in a smallish town called Harrison; as in the four plays collected here, he reworks with great vigor the themes of grieving and loss. At his best, Foote is a sort of Texan Chekhov, gently exposing the tensions that split the nuclear family--usually greed and sexual longing--with genuine concern for his characters. But the first two plays here are predictable and melodramatic. One in particular suffers from clumsy exposition and a surfeit of incident, including a double drowning, a murder and a dark family secret. However, the last two plays redeem the volume. One is a wryly funny look at an extended family in breakdown over Mama's ostensibly valuable holdings; the second is a poignant mood piece about lonely people trying to make their way in a world that is changing beyond their control.
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