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Theater festival honors legendary playwright

Nov. 5, 2009

Associated Press

By Kim Douglass
Reporter

Playwrights and theater professionals from around the country will gather on Baylor's campus for the bi-annual theater event, the Horton Foote Festival, named for the late Texas playwright.

The three-day event, held today to Saturday in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Building, takes a different look at various plays that many theater directors, both professional and educational, have reviewed many times during their careers.

Many events have been planned to give guests the opportunity to see all that the festival has to offer. Some of the events include play readings, panel discussions and performances. Also included in the festival are master classes. This year's classes will be presented by 2009 honoree Craig Wright and MAC and Bistro award-winning duo Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich.

Sulphur Springs senior and student assistant Brandon Woolley gives a high recommendation since he knows the festival very well. Woolley is a member of the front-of-house planning committee and became Wright's assistant after he arrived in Waco.

"I am a huge fan of the Horton Foote Festival because it brings us, as students, in contact with working professional actors and playwrights," Woolley said. "It allows us to pick their brains for a few days while hearing multiple play readings and seminars on academic papers on the world of theater."

Tonight, the festival will do a brief tribute to Foote at the award ceremony. This will be the first festival without its namesake in attendance. Foote made many contributions to the American theater and film society all the way up until the time of his death.

Theater arts professor Dr. Marion Castleberry said, "I have been struck time and again by the intensity and clarity of Foote's dramatic vision, and by his commitment to the American theater."

Crowley junior and student assistant Jodi Breneman said her role in the festival was based solely around Foote as she put historical information together as a tribute to him.

"I also have a lot of love and respect for Horton Foote," Breneman said. "His plays and screenplays are so beautiful and true to the common American man; they are written simply, yet within the simple language are very complex, deep, hurt characters. He was a wonderful playwright whom I wish I could have met; he has definitely made a great impact on our theater department."

As a special treat, this year will include a Friday performance of Wright's off-Broadway play, "The Unseen."

A psychologically gripping tale of two men trapped in isolation, together the two attempt to figure out why they were imprisoned. However, because neither can see the other or the outside world, the two men are left to converse through their cell walls about everything going on both outside their prison and from within themselves.

Included in this performance are associate professor Steven Pounders, as one of the prisoners, and assistant professor Thomas Ward, as their torturous prison warden.

Saturday, as part of the theater's Broadway Concert Series, there will be a special performance from Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich.

Though the festival is short, it still manages to encompass all that live theater has to offer. When describing the festival, theatre arts department chairman Stan Denman said, "What we see on stage originates with the playwright, and the Horton Foote Festival is a privileged glimpse into the minds of these creative artists. One would be hard-pressed to find another theatrical experience like this in Texas."

Festival coordinator Sherry Ward shares a similar opinion.

"The entire event is artistically and intellectually fulfilling for all participants," Ward said. "The discussions are topical and relevant and often extend beyond the weekend."

A special part of this event is its student involvement. Rather than allowing students only the chance to attend the festival, some are chosen to work behind the scenes as well, allowing them a different perspective on the event.

"Personally, I think the Horton Foote Festival is a unique opportunity for the students to host theater professionals from across the country who share a common passion for the creation of drama," Ward said.

Fort Worth junior Jodi Breneman, the second student assistant during the festival, also enjoys the festival.

"This festival is wonderful for theater students because it offers numerous opportunities to network with actors, directors, playwrights, agents and other people within the theater and film industry from all over the nation," Breneman said. "We can go to play readings of plays written by prominent playwrights as well as up-and-coming playwrights and hear paper readings from theatre scholars to receive insight into what is going on currently within the theater world outside of Baylor.

"Most importantly, it's reassuring to students to meet individuals who are successful within the entertainment industry; it shows us that we really can do what we love and that life is not as scary as we think it is outside our Baylor Bubble."

The festival will run today through Saturday with an all-inclusive festival registration of $150, available online at www.baylor.edu/hortonfootefestival.

Single tickets are available for The Marcy and Zina Show and for The Unseen. For more information, call the theater box office at 254-710-1865.

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