Dividing the Estate
Encyclopedia
Dividing the Estate is a play by Horton Foote
. Set in the fictional town of Harrison, Texas in 1987, it focuses on the Gordons, a clan of malcontents ruled by octogenarian matriarch Stella that must prepare for an uncertain future when plunging real estate values and an unexpected tax bill have a negative impact on the family fortune. Stella's children - predatory Mary Jo, complacent Lucille, and alcoholic Lewis - engage in a debate about whether or not they should divide the estate while their mother is still alive in order to ensure themselves financial independence.
The play premiered at the McCarter Theatre
in New Jersey
in 1989. Presented by the Lincoln Center Theater Company
and Primary Stages Theater
, it opened on September 27, 2007 at the off-Broadway
59East59Street Theatre, where it ran until October 27. Directed by Michael Wilson, the cast included Elizabeth Ashley
as Stella, Hallie Foote
as Mary Jo, Penny Fuller
as Lucille, and Gerald McRaney
as Lewis.
In his review in the New York Times, Ben Brantley
called the play "deeply funny" and stated, "Mr. Foote's authorial gaze is focused with satiric sharpness while retaining its elegiac sense of life's transience." David Rooney of Variety
thought it was "distinctly old-fashioned . . . with an air of familiarity" but added, "Spend time with Foote's richly human characters and concerns about the play's dustiness quickly fade. The Chekhovian
intrusion of past upon present, the melancholy acknowledgement of a world in decline, the gentle but tart humor, the clear-eyed compassion tinged with despair - these qualities remind us why the 91-year-old playwright remains such a distinctively expressive voice in contemporary American drama."
Horton Foote won the Outer Critics Circle Award
for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and the Obie Award
for Playwriting.
The production transferred to Broadway
for a limited engagement with its original cast intact. It began previews at the Booth Theatre
on October 23, 2008, officially opened on November 20, and closed on January 4, 2009.
Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News said the play "goes for laughs and succeeds, and at the same time comments on more sweeping notions of avarice, entitlement and carpetbagging karma. It's not as profound or ambitious as Broadway's other multigenerational melee, August: Osage County
, but Foote's fine play does go down easy." In USA Today
, Elysa Gardner observed, "The folks we meet in Estate . . . can be immensely irritating, but they're not, well, bad people — or, truth be told, terribly interesting ones."
:
Horton Foote
Albert Horton Foote, Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television...
. Set in the fictional town of Harrison, Texas in 1987, it focuses on the Gordons, a clan of malcontents ruled by octogenarian matriarch Stella that must prepare for an uncertain future when plunging real estate values and an unexpected tax bill have a negative impact on the family fortune. Stella's children - predatory Mary Jo, complacent Lucille, and alcoholic Lewis - engage in a debate about whether or not they should divide the estate while their mother is still alive in order to ensure themselves financial independence.
The play premiered at the McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in 1989. Presented by the Lincoln Center Theater Company
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
and Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
, it opened on September 27, 2007 at the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
59East59Street Theatre, where it ran until October 27. Directed by Michael Wilson, the cast included Elizabeth Ashley
Elizabeth Ashley
Elizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway play Take Her, She's Mine, which earned her a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play.-Early life:...
as Stella, Hallie Foote
Hallie Foote
Hallie Foote is an American actress.Born Barbarie Hallie Foote in New York City, the daughter of Lillian Vallish Foote and writer and director Horton Foote, she was raised in Nyack, New York and New Hampshire...
as Mary Jo, Penny Fuller
Penny Fuller
Penny Fuller is an American actress.Born in Durham, North Carolina, Fuller attended Northwestern University in Illinois. She then went to New York City to make a name for herself on Broadway...
as Lucille, and Gerald McRaney
Gerald McRaney
Gerald Lee "Mac" McRaney is an American television and movie actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the television shows Simon & Simon, Major Dad, and Promised Land. He was a series regular for the first season of Jericho.-Early life:McRaney was born in Collins, Mississippi, the son...
as Lewis.
In his review in the New York Times, Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
called the play "deeply funny" and stated, "Mr. Foote's authorial gaze is focused with satiric sharpness while retaining its elegiac sense of life's transience." David Rooney of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
thought it was "distinctly old-fashioned . . . with an air of familiarity" but added, "Spend time with Foote's richly human characters and concerns about the play's dustiness quickly fade. The Chekhovian
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
intrusion of past upon present, the melancholy acknowledgement of a world in decline, the gentle but tart humor, the clear-eyed compassion tinged with despair - these qualities remind us why the 91-year-old playwright remains such a distinctively expressive voice in contemporary American drama."
Horton Foote won the Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and the Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Playwriting.
The production transferred to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
for a limited engagement with its original cast intact. It began previews at the Booth Theatre
Booth Theatre
The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York City.Architect Henry B. Herts designed the Booth and its companion Shubert Theatre as a back-to-back pair sharing a Venetian Renaissance-style façade...
on October 23, 2008, officially opened on November 20, and closed on January 4, 2009.
Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News said the play "goes for laughs and succeeds, and at the same time comments on more sweeping notions of avarice, entitlement and carpetbagging karma. It's not as profound or ambitious as Broadway's other multigenerational melee, August: Osage County
August: Osage County
August: Osage County is a darkly comedic play by Tracy Letts. It was the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on 28 June 2007, and closed on 26 August 2007. Its Broadway debut was at the Imperial Theater on 4 December 2007 and...
, but Foote's fine play does go down easy." In USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Elysa Gardner observed, "The folks we meet in Estate . . . can be immensely irritating, but they're not, well, bad people — or, truth be told, terribly interesting ones."
Awards and nominations
2009 Tony Awards63rd Tony Awards
The 63rd Annual Tony Awards, which recognized Broadway productions of the 2008-2009 season, were presented on June 7, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ceremony was broadcast by CBS, with Neil Patrick Harris as host....
:
- Best PlayTony Award for Best PlayThe Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
(nominated) - Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a PlayTony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a PlayThis is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.-1940s:* 1947: Patricia Neal – Another Part of the Forest* 1949: Shirley Booth – Goodbye, My Fancy-1950s:...
, Hallie FooteHallie FooteHallie Foote is an American actress.Born Barbarie Hallie Foote in New York City, the daughter of Lillian Vallish Foote and writer and director Horton Foote, she was raised in Nyack, New York and New Hampshire...
(nominated)