The cast of “Roads to Home” in a scene from “Spring Dance.” (JEFFERY SCHMIDT/ Theatre Three)
Theatre Three is the final professional theater to mount a Horton Foote show in the festival with “Roads to Home,” three one-act plays written to be performed consecutively.
In the Foote fashion, these plays deal with issues of family drama and heartbreak, but like most Foote shows, they need a special kind of energy to avoid becoming dull.
Until the third show, these plays do a superb job taking the audience to the heart of a charming Southern town.
Bruce Coleman’s set is an idyllic country home, complete with porch and garden, easily transforming into the outer steps of the Austin asylum. Michael Robinson’s costumes are fitting, yet, somewhat quaint.
The first two shows introduce us to Mabel Votaugh, a matronly woman in the city of Houston in a delightful performance by Pam Dougherty.
She might be the only actress in town capable of making five minutes of gossiping with her neighbor Vonnie Hayhurst (Mary-Margaret Pyeatt) entertaining.
The talk of the town at the moment is the increasing insanity of Annie Gayle Long (Renee Kelly), the woman who has recently moved to Houston from Harrison.
Her husband Mr. Long, in a mature performance by SMU junior Max Swarner, is doing everything he can to care for her, but she just wants to ride the street cars home.
The second act, “The Dearest of Friends,” is centered on Vonnie, whose husband, Eddie Hayhurst (Andrew Kasten), has met a new woman on the train ride home from Harrison. Mabel helps Vonnie to cope with the reality of a failed marriage, while her own husband Jack (Jerry Crow), sleeps on the porch waking up occasionally to add his two cents.
But the final act fails to sufficiently bring the previous shows to a sense of completion, but at no fault of the production.
Having seen nearly every Foote show during this festival, there is one struggle they all seem to have in common: the ending.
From WaterTower Theatre’s “The Traveling Lady” to the Dallas Theater Center’s “Dividing the Estate” it seems that no matter how well-produced, designed and directed a show might be, these slice-of-life plays end in the middle of a moment, or with a trite statement or action.
“Roads to Home” has three such endings. “A Nightingale” and “The Dearest of Friends” dim the lights when the characters break down in tears.
The entire act of “Spring Dance” merely shows Annie in the asylum in Austin during a social event, with the apparent attempt to show that some people can’t make it home.
These final 20 minutes toy around with this idea, but these actors fail to connect with one another, appearing more like caricatures, than real humans.
These slices of life, one-act plays benefit from the heart-felt performances of the main characters and a beautiful set.
“Roads to Home” runs through May 7 in Theatre Three’s theater-in-the-round. For more information, visit theatre3dallas.com.
