“The Trip to Bountiful” is a touching drama about an elderly widow, Carrie Watts, who has been making her home with her son and daughter-in-law in a small apartment in Houston, Texas.
She longs to make one last trip back to her small hometown of Bountiful, Texas to see the house and small town where she grew up; but cannot get her son to take her, nor will he let her go alone.
She makes several attempts to leave on her own, but is always thwarted by her overprotective son and over-bearing daughter-in-law.
Finally, in defiance, she runs away and tries to catch a train, only to find they no longer run to Bountiful, so she takes a bus to a nearby town.
When the son finds she is gone he alerts law enforcement. The local sheriff finds her and is good enough to drive her out to her former home.
There she finds the village deserted and the few remaining houses are falling apart.
A multitude of emotions descend on Mrs. Watts as she walks the land that had been her father’s and sees the lonely remains of the family home.
The Bainbridge cast includes Marie Stapleton as Carrie Watts, Richard Whitehead as her son Ludie, Pam Barnes as Jessie Mae Watts; Katherine Chapman as Thelma; Henry Intili as Houston Ticket Man; Mike Inlow as Harrison Ticket man and the Sheriff is portrayed by Darius Cannon, who is making his stage debut at BLT in this show. Cannon said he has always wanted to try his hand at acting and this part seemed like the perfect introduction to theater, He adds that he did appear in a 7th grade production one time as a deputy, and now he has risen the career ladder to Sheriff.
“The Trip to Bountiful” first appeared as a television play in 1953, before progressing to Broadway later that year for a run of 39 performances. It enjoyed a revival that opened in April 2013, starring Cicely Tyson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams and Condola Rashad.
A movie of this drama was released in 1985 starring Geraldine Page, who won an academy award as best actress for her role as Carrie Watts.
The show is under the direction of BLT veteran Martha Mobley, who first directed it  for BLT 15 years ago. Mobley said she wanted to do the show one more time because, “It is simply a beautiful play; or maybe it’s because it’s written by Horton Foote, who writes the most authentic dialogue; or because it speaks to the human spirit. I love this play,” she said.
Foote was a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright who also won Oscars for his screenplays of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “Tender Mercies.”
The show opens Thursday, March 13, running through the 16th. Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday March 16 matinee is at 2:30 p.m.
Advance tickets may be reserved by phone at 246-8345 Mon. – Fri. from 1 to 6 p.m. or by email at bainbridgelittletheatre@gmail.com