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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Cleveland
Play House’s ‘Bountiful’ is a classic piece of ‘ordinary’ theater<?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I></SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2/18/11</SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">In
1953, when it aired on NBC’s <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The
Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse</I>, Horton Foote’s play <I>The Trip to
Bountiful</I></SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">fit
the mold for what was then-labeled “theater of the ordinary”:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A small story about simple people told
simply.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">TV
was still in its infancy and the original plays that were aired live on this and
other anthology programs needed to accommodate a limited budget, restrictive
production facilities and the tiny TV screens they would be viewed on.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Small and simple was the
rule.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Although
production values were expanded when this play went to Broadway and, later, when
it became an Academy Award-winning film, the play itself remains a simple piece
of theater of the ordinary.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Emotions rather than action drive the drama.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Good writing rather than theatrical
pyrotechnics serves as the main attraction.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Therein
lies this play’s charm and its poignancy, and this is what is brought to the
stage in the delightful Cleveland Play House production of <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Trip to
Bountiful</I>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Bountiful</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"> revolves around Carrie
Watts, an elderly widower living in the claustrophobic, urban confines of her
son and daughter-in-law’s Houston apartment in the 1940s. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ailing and aching for the past, Carrie
desperately wants to get back to her hometown of Bountiful, Texas one last time
before she dies. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Her protective
son, Ludie, and his self-centered wife, Jessie Mae, think it best that she stays
put.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
moral of this play is small and simple:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Home is where the heart is.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Yet, Foote’s brilliance as a playwright works into this uncomplicated
tale his perspective on the changing landscape of America and insight into the
many small indignities of growing old within it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">To
drive these points home to the audience, director <SPAN
style="COLOR: #222222">Timothy Douglas and scenic designer Tony Cisek create a
nondescript, impressionistic landscape for this production.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The expansive Texas sky and the acres of
overgrown Bountiful farmland are represented by bright, blue patterned scrims
that surround the stage. The old house is little more than a piece of picket
fencing and an inkling of a front porch.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
allows us to imprint our own mental images onto the stage, wherever our own
Bountiful and whenever our own past might be.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Foote’s
brilliance can also be found in his characters.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These are simply drawn and easily
cubby-holed souls with a simple function:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>either facilitate or complicate Carrie’s trip back to Bountiful.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yet, there is depth and richness to be
mined, and they are by a superb cast.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #222222"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lizan
Mitchell brings dimension and vivacity to Carrie, and delivers a wonderfully
engaging performance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Carrie is an immediately sympathetic and
thoroughly endearing character thanks to Mitchell’s thoughtful preparation for
this role and, also, the perfect counterpoint portrayal of Jessie Mae by an
excellent Chinai Hardy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Hardy takes
a character built for caricature—insensitive, infertile and self-absorbed—and
makes her lovable and complex enough to warrant Ludie’s
affection.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Rather than
being henpecked, beaten and empty, Howard W. Overshown’s Ludie is a strong, soft
spoken and sustainable survivor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This does not always come across in Foote’s words, but it is clearly his
intention and most assuredly comes across in Overshown’s depiction.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Similarly, Jessica Frances Dukes’
Thelma, Carrie’s unassuming travel companion, reveals a spark and a spirit that
gives life and depth to an otherwise simple
creature.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Director
Douglas purposefully adds a layer of complexity to this otherwise simple
production by having the story told from an African-American perspective by
casting black actors in the featured roles. This departs from the play’s
original intent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>According to the
program notes, the director wished to “shed some light on the heretofore little
known black middle class in 1940s Houston.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>This it
does not do, for Foote’s story and storytelling taps universal and evergreen
themes that are neither enhanced nor diminished by the color of the
characters.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Still, this
innovation does amplify the urgency of Ludie’s concern—and ours as well—for his
elderly mother’s safety as she travels alone by bus, at night, to the middle of
nowhere, in the pre-Civil Rights South. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">And the more spiritual
hymnals sung by this Carrie are more fetching than the scripted “Softly and
Tenderly,” although the thematically ideal line “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Come home, Come home, Ye who are weary
come home” is sorely missed.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">As delightful as this
piece of theater is, it is no longer the 1950s and those more accustomed to
theatrical pyrotechnics for their entertainment may find the smallness or
simplicity of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“The Trip
to Bountiful” an arduous undertaking.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So be it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For everyone else, this production of
this “ordinary” play is a most pleasant reverie. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The
Trip to Bountiful</SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">continues
through February 27 in The Cleveland Play House’s Drury Theatre.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $46 to
$66, call </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">216-795-7000 or visit
<A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandplayhouse.com</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>