‘THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL’
East Brainerd theater opens Horton Foote play
The East Brainerd Community Theater will open Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Trip to Bountiful” tonight, Nov. 1, for four performances this weekend.
The performances will be held at Christ United Methodist Church, 8645 East Brainerd Road. Chris Hart is directing the production. The emotional play tells the story of Carrie Watts, an elderly woman who longs to escape the cramped Houston apartment where she lives with her protective son, Ludie, and her authoritarian daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae. Carrie wants to return to her beloved hometown of Bountiful, Texas, one final time before she dies.
While Ludie is at work and Jessie Mae is at the drugstore, Carrie escapes to the bus station and befriends a young woman named Thelma. The new friends travel toward Bountiful together, but when Carrie arrives in nearby Harrison, Texas, she begins to learn that her beloved town isn’t the same as she remembered it.
Patti Gross is cast as Carrie Watts. Jason Haney and Ayana Winchester play her son and daughter-in-law, respectively. Bailey B. Hingson portrays Thelma.
With every production staged by East Brainerd Community Theater, the cast selects a charity to support with a service project and donations. “The Trip to Bountiful” will benefit Chattanooga Sports Ministry.
This production of “The Trip to Bountiful” is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc., New York.
For more information: www.christchurchchatt. org.