From left to right, Yolanda Williams, Lucia Welch , T.A. Taylor and Kevin Moore perform in a scene from ‘The Young Man from Atlanta.’ (Photo courtesy of UPTOWN PLAYERS)
Horton Foote’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, “The Young Man from Atlanta,” tells the story of Will Kidder and his wife Lily Dale, an older couple struggling with the recent death of their son.
The play, set in Houston circa 1950, opens on Will as he is edged out of his company by the younger Tom. At the same time, Will must plan for the future as an unemployed 60 year old and deal with a mysterious friend of his recently deceased son who wants to remain in contact with the parents of his best friend.
Will’s refusal to speak with the friend is justified when he discovers his wife has been loaning this mysterious friend large sums of money for various “crises.”
Lily Dale, Will’s naïve wife, needs the mysterious ‘young man from Atlanta’ to affirm her son’s religiosity as a way to cope with her loss. It soon becomes apparent to the audience, however, that Lily Dale is living in denial of their son’s true nature and the reason for his sudden death. Will is living in a delusion of his own as he is forced to come to terms with the reality of the 1950’s corporate world while he struggles to find a way to fit in.
The play closes with only a few of the posed questions answered.
Director Marianne Galloway’s interpretation of Foote’s play focuses on comedy, which is sometimes to the detriment of the themes that should resonate with the audience.
T.A. Taylor turns in an excellent performance as the somber Will, but Lucia Welch, as his wife Lily Dale, plays the role as a melodramatic caricature instead of a character the audience can relate to. Taylor and Welch are flanked by a talented supporting cast including noteworthy performances by Gordon Fox, Blake Blair and Yolanda Williams. But in the end, the production leaves the audience without a true sense of Foote’s insightful commentary on youth, family, denial and deception.
“The Young Man from Atlanta,” which opened Friday night at the Kalita Humprhies Theater in Turtle Creek is Uptown Players’ contribution to the two-month long Foote Festival currently underway at Dallas-area theaters. The play will run through Aug. 17.
