A Journey Home in The Trip to Bountiful at Cleveland Play House

 

So much has been written about the concept of home and what it means to each person.  For me, it’s a place where I feel both comfortable and challenged, and I’ve spent the last 10 or so years trying to find that place.  I lived in other cities before and while I associate them with the family and friends that still live there, I’ve realized over the last year or so that Cleveland as a city and a place is the home I had been searching for.

Fortunately, I live in the place I consider home (and hope to for a long time). Others who aren’t as lucky may have been driven from there because of work, family or the myriad of other things that crop up throughout life. Some are able to reclaim that sense of home somewhere else; others are filled by a desire to return.  In The Trip to Bountiful at the Cleveland Play House, elderly widow Carrie Watts is compelled to steal away with her latest pension check and take one last trip to Bountiful, the small Gulf Coast town where she grew up and raised a family before moving to Houston.

The Trip to Bountiful is an American classic by Pulitzer Prize- and Academy Award-winner Horton Foote who also wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies and a vast number of other works throughout his six-decade career. However, out of all of his plays, this is the first time a Horton Foote work has been produced at the Cleveland Play House.  To helm this co-production with Washington DC’s Round House Theatre, the Play House brought in Timothy Douglas as director.

As Douglas writes on the Cleveland Play House’s blog, The Trip to Bountiful had been on his director’s wish list for a long time. Although it was one of his favorite plays, he had not had the chance to direct it yet. Meanwhile, over the course of directing other plays, he’s worked with preeminent African-American actress Lizan Mitchell, who has appeared on Broadway in Electra, Having Our Say, and So Long on Lonely Street.

When Douglas most recently worked with her on August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, he came upon an idea to cast Mitchell as Carrie Watts. To do this, he went through the script to see how the story could be told from a different perspective. With the permission of the Foote Foundation and an endorsement by Hallie Foote, the playwright’s daughter, this revival is the first time an African-American cast has portrayed the Watts family.

This casting choice adds a new perspective to The Trip to Bountiful, shedding light on the African-American middle class in 1940s Texas. However, Douglas was careful to remain committed to Foote’s original intent by not changing the script, but allowing the audience’s knowledge of history, culture and race to enhance their viewing.

 

Douglas, the cast and the crew did a fantastic job of balancing this non-traditional re-visioning with the story at the heart of Foote’s writing. The Trip to Bountiful is an intimate drama focusing on the challenges and struggles the members of the Watts family face. Trapped in a cramped apartment in Houston, the strong-willed Carrie lives with her soft-spoken son, Ludie, and self-absorbed daughter-in-law, Jessie-Mae.

Most of the play follows Carrie’s journey from Houston – where she is unhappy under Jessie-Mae’s bossy watch – to Bountiful – her hometown which she is driven to escape to before she dies. However, as unsympathetic as Jessie Mae is, actress Chinai J. Hardy did an excellent job in creating a few moments where the audience can relate to her. You see the frustration and sadness that Jessie-Mae and Ludie (a gentle and tender portrayal by Howard W. Overshown) struggle with because they are unable to conceive children and because Ludie’s career is not as promising due to an old illness. Regardless of the race of the actors, the audience understands Foote’s intent to explore family conflicts hidden quietly behind an apartment door.

While the cast (consisting of Hardy, Overshown, Lawrence Redmond, Jessica Frances Dukes, and Doug Brown) did an amazing job portraying Foote’s well-written and very human characters, it was clear why Douglas was inspired to direct Mitchell in the role of Carrie Watts.  While The Trip to Bountiful is a family drama, it’s also a coming of age story — just not the age that most of those stories are about.

Mitchell beautifully shows the unrest of an energetic woman who has experienced a lot and feels trapped in her current life. Having outlived most of her family and friends and fearing she’s become an imposition, the only thing she wants is to return to Bountiful where she hopes to reclaim a sense of belonging. When she gets there, she finds the peace she had been hunting for and makes a realization she didn’t expect to make.

While Carrie is physically frail, Mitchell brought a robust presence to the stage and kept the audience enrapt throughout the show. As the lights dimmed on the final scene and before the applause had even started, I could hear a number of audience members remarking outloud on her wonderful performance.

Douglas and Set Designer Tony Cisek created a stunning visual backdrop to complement the actors. The designs were inspired by the artwork of John Thomas Biggers, an African-American illustrator, draftsman, muralist, painter, sculptor, lithographer and educator who worked in Houston during an era very similar to when the play is set. The influence of his work provided another layer to Douglas’ vision of an African-American retelling.

To understand the connections between Bigger’s work and the set design, the Cleveland Play House has included images of his works on dramaturgical boards throughout the lobby. The boards are just one aspect of the educational experiences the theatre provided to bring a deeper understanding to the show. The complimentary pre-show talkback, hosted by the actress who played Thelma, gave a behind-the-scenes look at the production process and a context for the play.

This intimate, re-imagined family drama was yet another example of the Cleveland Play House’s versatility. From their adaptation of The Kite Runner to the one-man holiday production of This Wonderful Life and the Ginger musical, each production this season has been refreshingly different (sadly, I missed The 39 Steps). Up next on the mainstage is another change of pace, My Name is Asher Lev. Meanwhile, the children’s series is currently featuring a reworking of The Little Mermaid with puppets.

This all leads up to their sixth annual FusionFest. Although the Play House’s productions consistently challenge and re-invent, FusionFest looks like it’ll be on a different level – bringing in new, multidisciplinary works for a ten-day festival. I’m really looking forward to this celebration of music, dance and theatre and plan to blog more details soon — including a look at some of the shows I’m most excited for.

The Trip to Bountiful / The Cleveland Play House 411:

• The Trip to Bountiful
• Cleveland Play House 2010-2011 Season
• Plan a Visit to The Cleveland Play House

 

Note: An earlier version of this post had the name of Howard W. Overshown’s character misspelled; it has now been changed to the correct spelling of Ludie throughout. The original version also said the 2011 FusionFest would be the 5^th annual when it will be the 6^th annual FusionFest. That’s what I get for not proofreading as thoroughly as normal (and as an editor I know better!)