Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Trip to Bountiful at New Village Arts

Trip began as a TV play Horton Foote wrote for Lillian Gish. A white woman. Given her extraordinary performance at New Village Arts, you'd swear he wrote it for Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson, an African-American.

If a script calls for a force of nature, Thompson gets the nod. She played (and received a 2012 Craig Noel Award nomination for) the mother in Moxie's A Raisin in the Sun and once was Othello. But Thompson's so versatile, her art is so complete, she can play tenderness and fragility with equal skill. I will never forget her Lena, in Boesman and Lena at ECC, 30 years ago. What she's doing as Carrie Watts surpasses it.

"Maybe the need to belong to a house, and a family, and a town has gone from the world," Carrie observes in Act III, summing up Foote's nostalgia for roots and connection that runs throughout.

It's 1953. Although everyone's on the move - to work, to the hairdresser, to dump the last Photoplay magazine and read the next - they aren't moving forward.

Carrie lives with her son Ludie and his wife Jesse Mae in a thin-walled, three-room Houston apartment. The word "home" does not apply; nor does Jean-Paul Sartre's "hell is other people," though it comes closer. Jesse Mae is driving the passive Carrie nuts, and vice versa, and Ludie's attempts to mediate rival those of a secretary of state.

After many years in this percolating abode, Carrie decides to move - go back to where she had a true home in Bountiful, Texas, in her mind a combination of Bali Hai and Shangri-La near the Brazos River. That would be fine with Jesse Mae, if Carrie's pension checks stayed in Houston.

It's an amazing decision, given such a static world. And Carrie moves against the grain - and the odds - with an indomitable will.

The loose, longish-script shows signs of aging. Some scenes lapse into dullness and beg for a trim, and the dialogue has languid stretches (they did a 110 minute version in New York in 2005; the speed worked overall, but it rushed the actors). Like the script, New Village Arts' opening could have used an across-the-board tightening. In keeping with Foote's theme, everyone and everything should speed up - scene changes, over-long intermissions, the supporting cast. All should run at a "Houston" pace except the trio of lead actors. Give them more room to breathe.

If you include ensemble and production mentions, Yolanda Franklin had something like six nominations for Craig Noel Awards last year. She shows why as Jesse Mae. Somehow she makes the garrulous, self-centered woman both a thorn in her mother-in-law's side and likeable. Veteran Walter Murray's Ludie is a referee trying to officiate a lose-lose match without showing favoritism. Murray subtly reveals the strain that entails.

And Thompson. Her Carrie evolves from a starless night to a gleaming Texas dawn. Along the way her emotions kaleidoscope, moment to moment, always true and often breathtaking.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Mary Catherine Swanson wants every San Diego student going to college

Where busing from Southeast San Diego to University City has led

Trip began as a TV play Horton Foote wrote for Lillian Gish. A white woman. Given her extraordinary performance at New Village Arts, you'd swear he wrote it for Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson, an African-American.

If a script calls for a force of nature, Thompson gets the nod. She played (and received a 2012 Craig Noel Award nomination for) the mother in Moxie's A Raisin in the Sun and once was Othello. But Thompson's so versatile, her art is so complete, she can play tenderness and fragility with equal skill. I will never forget her Lena, in Boesman and Lena at ECC, 30 years ago. What she's doing as Carrie Watts surpasses it.

"Maybe the need to belong to a house, and a family, and a town has gone from the world," Carrie observes in Act III, summing up Foote's nostalgia for roots and connection that runs throughout.

It's 1953. Although everyone's on the move - to work, to the hairdresser, to dump the last Photoplay magazine and read the next - they aren't moving forward.

Carrie lives with her son Ludie and his wife Jesse Mae in a thin-walled, three-room Houston apartment. The word "home" does not apply; nor does Jean-Paul Sartre's "hell is other people," though it comes closer. Jesse Mae is driving the passive Carrie nuts, and vice versa, and Ludie's attempts to mediate rival those of a secretary of state.

After many years in this percolating abode, Carrie decides to move - go back to where she had a true home in Bountiful, Texas, in her mind a combination of Bali Hai and Shangri-La near the Brazos River. That would be fine with Jesse Mae, if Carrie's pension checks stayed in Houston.

It's an amazing decision, given such a static world. And Carrie moves against the grain - and the odds - with an indomitable will.

The loose, longish-script shows signs of aging. Some scenes lapse into dullness and beg for a trim, and the dialogue has languid stretches (they did a 110 minute version in New York in 2005; the speed worked overall, but it rushed the actors). Like the script, New Village Arts' opening could have used an across-the-board tightening. In keeping with Foote's theme, everyone and everything should speed up - scene changes, over-long intermissions, the supporting cast. All should run at a "Houston" pace except the trio of lead actors. Give them more room to breathe.

If you include ensemble and production mentions, Yolanda Franklin had something like six nominations for Craig Noel Awards last year. She shows why as Jesse Mae. Somehow she makes the garrulous, self-centered woman both a thorn in her mother-in-law's side and likeable. Veteran Walter Murray's Ludie is a referee trying to officiate a lose-lose match without showing favoritism. Murray subtly reveals the strain that entails.

And Thompson. Her Carrie evolves from a starless night to a gleaming Texas dawn. Along the way her emotions kaleidoscope, moment to moment, always true and often breathtaking.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SD Fringe Festival: Stiff Love

Next Article

What’s holding up U-T San Diego sale?

Potboilers could be more lucrative than newspaper as Chargers move looms
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader