I did "Courtship" a very long time ago, and the one act "The Dancers" was very popular at one-act festivals for a while, so I've seen it multiple times. I also use scenes in class work with some of my students--there's one from "Lily Dale" that plays pretty well. In my experience, teenagers often start off by finding the work "old fashioned" or "boring" at first but the more they drill into the work, the more they find there is to do.
I think one reason that his plays aren't done more in high schools is that they are actually kind of tricky for beginning actors/young people. They need strong directing and clear acting or they can fall pretty flat. Foote has been compared by some to Chekhov, and although I don't think Foote is anywhere near as funny, both feature complex and multi-layered human emotions, restraint, and lots of use of subtext. There's a lot of wonderful stuff there.
Best of Luck!
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Meg O'Connor
oconnormainstage.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-17-2018 15:47
From: K Lang
Subject: Horton Foote's Plays
Has anyone produced any of Horton Foote's plays? Are they suitable for high school? I am not familiar with his work but it looks like it has a lot of potential and might be what we are looking for. Thank you.
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K Lang
Ticonderoga NY
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